Mending a Slayer's Broken Heart
by Texascowgirl-13
Summary: After catching Miroku with another woman Sango flees to her village to escape the heartache; her savior, a half demon whose heart has also been recently shatterd by the second woman he thought he loved, can they both learn to love again? HIATUS!
1. The Monk's Infidelity

**a/n: Hey Yall! This is my first Inu/San story and my second story period so try not to be too hard on me. This chapter is mainly about Sango but Inuyasha is to come... I have some big ideas for this story but since I'm writing a Sesshy/San story called "A Demon's Heart" at the same time my updates may be a little slower than usual; and since my usual update time is like 1-2 days it shouldn't be too bad... I must say, however, if you do not like the Inu/San pairing then do not read. It's as simple as that. I do accept flames but come on people if your gonna flame the pairing why did you read it in the first place?!?!? Anyways, ON TO THE STORY!!!**

**"Speech"**

**_'Thoughts'_**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha. If I did then there'd definately be some major pairing changes!!! ^.^ (Those of you who know me know that I luv to make up random disclaimers)**

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Chapter 1- The Monk's Infidelity

The hunt for Naraku was finally over. The bastard half demon had been killed by Inuyasha's gang with help from Sesshomaru, as well as Kagura's unexpected support, and the sacred jewel hand finally been returned to Kagome who'd purified it and kept it with her for safe keeping.

The gang's injuries had not been all that great considering the ferocity of the battle; in fact Kagome and Miroku both had received only a few scrapes and bruises from the ordeal. It was Sango and Inuyasha who'd taken the most damage seeing as they were the primary fighters of the group and had taken the lead in attacking. Sango had received a broken arm and leg, where Naraku's tentacles had pierced her, as well as a deep bloody gash in her right side. Inuyasha had gotten a rather large hole through the stomach and his left arm was broken but nothing that wasn't able to heal upon their return to Kaede's village.

They had returned to Kaede's village to heal and a moth later Sango was once again left alone in Kaede's hut to cook dinner for the boys while Kagome went back to her time and Kaede left to help a sick woman in a nearby village. Inuyasha was out patrolling the area as was the norm and Miroku had said he was going for water. That was an hour ago and she was beginning to worry that something had happened.

Deciding that she could not properly make dinner without the water she rose to leave the hut and find out what was taking the monk so long.

"You stay here Kirara and watch over Kaede's hut for me until I get back," Sango said gently to her cat demon companion who'd been sitting silently at her side the whole time.

Making her way out of the hut she made sure to grab her katana and slip it into the obi of her kimono. She smiled at her most faithful friend once before throwing aside the door flap and exiting the hut. On her way to the village Sango thought over what Miroku had told her after they'd finally killed Naraku.

"_I love you and only you Sango and I will wait for as long as you need me to so that we can be together,"_ Miroku had said as he wrapped his hands around hers.

She had thought over their relationship status in great detail and had finally decided that tonight at dinner she would tell Miroku that she was finally ready to get married.

'_That is if I can find that stupid monk,'_ Sango thought, irritated.

It was nearing sundown and the village people had all gone home to eat supper so the streets were practically deserted. After making one round around the village without finding any sign of the monk Sango decided to cut through one of the alleyways and make her way back to Kaede's hut to see if he had returned there.

Cutting quietly into the alley, she made her way quickly through the narrow space and was nearing the end when she saw two figures at the end of the alleyway that seemed to be caught up in a lovers' embrace. Blushing and looking down quickly Sango was about to turn to leave when suddenly the man began to speak.

"You truly are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on Amiki. I would be honored if you'd bare my child."

Now where had she heard that line before? Surely this was not who she thought it was. He told her that he'd given up his womanizing ways to wait for her. Her thoughts were interrupted by a girly giggle and squeal of delight from the shadowy figure of the woman at the end of the alley.

"Oh Monk Miroku I would love to bare your child. My hut is only a short walk away. Shall we continue this discussion there?" the woman asked in a seductive voice that hinted that she was no virgin girl.

But the woman's tone was lost on Sango. The man's name that the woman was talking to was what had Sango frozen in her tracks. There could be no other monk named Miroku in Kaede's village that was out so late at night asking women to bear his children; but that sounded like the old Miroku, the new Miroku had not so much as looked at another woman in her presence since the defeat of Naraku.

'No… That can't be him…' Sango thought desperately as she backed quietly away from the couple that had yet to sense her presence.

Upon backing up a safe distance Sango turned to run from the knowledge that her fiancé was not only flirting with other women but also taking them to bed when she hit something hard. A large, rough hand grabbed her right arm and jerked her forwards slightly and she, in too much emotional turmoil to think straight, allowed the vicious movement.

"Well, well, what do we have here boys? A pretty little girl that seems to have lost her way," said the large figure of a man that had grabbed Sango's arm, "I think we should help her out boys."

Tears falling down her face from the realization that the man she loved had cheated on her and broken her heart yet again, Sango leaned her head forwards so that her thick brown bangs covered the broken look in her eyes as she growled at the man who still held her arm in his tight grasp.

"Let me go…NOW."

"Looks like we got us a tough one here boys," the man snickered to the three lackeys that were standing right behind him.

Without another word and without lifting her eyes Sango released the hidden blade from its place in her slayer's suit beneath her kimono and sliced the man's hand as she jerked her arm out of his grasp. The large gang leader fell back and yelped in pain as his hand began to bleed profusely from the wound that the tiny brunette woman had inflicted on him with a blade that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Don't just stand there you idiots! Get her!" the boss yelled from his position on the ground.

Sango shifted her stance and put away her hidden blade in favor of drawing her katana from its place at her side. These idiots didn't know what they'd just gotten themselves into. You don't mess with this demon slayer; especially not after she'd just found her love with another woman. Dead lackeys walking…

Skillfully, Sango blocked and dodged all their attacks, even as they brandished katana of their own. She was having no problem defending herself but she desperately needed to vent some anger and she didn't want to end this fight too quickly. The noise of the battle, however, had caught the attention of the couple that had yet to depart from the end of the alleyway and Miroku had taken it upon himself to find out what was going on. Telling Amiki to wait for him there the monk swiftly made his way further down the alley to see what was happening.

By the time the monk arrived Sango was the only one left standing with her katana covered in blood and the bodies of the four men lying scattered around her. At the sight of his fiancé in the middle of the group of bloody men Miroku called out her name worriedly as he hurried forward.

"Sango!"

The slayer turned towards him and he was shocked to a halt by the look that she shot him. The anger, sadness, and betrayal he saw in her eyes told him that she had seen him with the woman on the other end of the alley. Oh boy, was he in for it now.

"Sango, I…" he began but was cut off by her quiet voice.

"I know what you've been doing Miroku, and the wedding is off. Go find yourself some other girl to cheat on because I'm done," Sango said in a cold voice that cut him deeper than any yell or scream she could have done.

Turning swiftly and without allowing the monk to respond the demon slayer vanished from the alley so swiftly Miroku wondered if she'd ever been there to begin with.

'_But I know she was,'_ he thought sadly as he turned to head back to Amiki, _'because I will never forget the look she had in her eyes before she left. I truly have lost her this time.'_

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Sango arrived back at Kaede's hut in a crying mess. She swiftly entered and began to throw her belongings together as she desperately tried to wipe the tears from her eyes that refused to stop falling. Kirara, startled from her light sleep by her mistress' distraught form, mewed in question as Sango gathered the last of her things and tied them around her neck before grabbing Hiraikotsu and putting it on her back.

"I-I can't stay here anymore Kirara… Not with him…Not now.." Sango cried as she scooped the neko into her arms and exited the hut, "Please Kirara, let's just go home."

Seeing her mistress was in no condition to tell her what was wrong the cat just mewed and jumped out of her arms so that she could transform and take her away from whatever was causing her pain. Mounting the large fire cat, Sango held on tightly as Kirara launched herself off the ground and flew towards the slayer's village that was a good two and a half days travel away.

"Thank you Kirara. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too…" Sango sobbed as she buried her head into the furry neck of her beloved companion and lost herself in her sorrow as she flew through the brisk night air.

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**a/n: Well there's chappie 1. I promise that Inuyasha will be in the next chapter and this will not be one of those Inu/San stories that gets halfway through and right to the good part and stops. I plan to complete this story if it kills me! hehe! Also, as I mentioned earlier I am still working on my Sesshy/San story so if anyone wants to check it out I'd really appreciate the reviews! ^.^**

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	2. The Priestess' Future Affair

**a/n: Wohoo yall! I stayed up till 3:25am to make sure that I could get chappie 2 written and posted for those of yall who read during the day since I usually update during the evening. I am competely exhausted and about to pass out but I'm happy that I got a chapter with Inuyasha in it posted so that when people read it they don't go "oh this doesn't have Inuyasha in it, only Miroku and Sango"...lol... but I hope yall enjoy since I stayed up so late slaving over a hot laptop for this chappie ... ^.^ ... Anyways, ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!**

**"Speech"**

**_'Thoughts'_**

**DISCLAIMER: I wanna own Inuyasha! I really do! But I'm only a poor high school student/waitress and I'm nowhere rich enough to buy it... T.T**

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Chapter 2- The Priestess' Future Affair

Inuyasha had just finished making his third round around the village checking for any signs of demonic activity in the area and upon finding none decided to return to Kaede's hut and see if Sango needed help cooking supper. He knew that the monk had probably figured out some excuse to leave and Sango was very likely cooking the meal for the three of them by herself.

Speaking of the three of them, his thoughts about the number of his companions being reduced led him to recall the last battle with Naraku where he'd lost one of them. During the battle Naraku had been aiming one if his large root-like appendages at Inuyasha's heart and Shippo, having seen this, leapt into the path of the tentacle to save Inuyasha's life. Regrettably the wound had inured the young fox so severely that he only lived long enough to confess to Inuyasha that he'd always thought of him as a father and that he loved him. He died shortly after in Inuyasha's arms and his death had ended up being the turning point of the battle. In his rage over Shippo's death Inuyasha was able to over come the gaping wound in his stomach and his broken left arm to unite an attack of massive power with Sango and destroy the abomination once and for all. The Hiraikotsu spinning one hundred times faster than usual through the triple tornados of Tetsaiga's Backlash Wave was an amazingly powerful and unheard of technique that ended up winning the battle for them.

It still pained Inuyasha to think of the young fox demon whose grave had been placed in a shady place beneath the Goshinboku so that he could rest in peaceful slumber forever. He'd nearly surrendered to his inner demon then. Were it not for Sango yelling in his face to "Get a grip!" and "Shippo wouldn't want that!" then he probably would have succumbed to his demon and likely lost the chance to destroy Naraku. His relationship with Sango had gotten much closer since then and he felt that he knew her better now, after the death of Naraku, than he had the whole time they'd been traveling.

Upon reaching Kaede's hut her entered to find that no one was home except for little Kirara who mewed sleepily from her place next to the fire.

"Sango's not here, huh Kirara?" Inuyasha asked the cat as he looked around the hut to see that dinner hadn't even been cooked yet.

'_Oh well, if it's gonna be awhile then I'm gonna go see what Kagome's up to and see if I can get her to come back a day earlier than she said,'_ Inuyasha thought as he waved to Kirara and exited the hut to head for the Bone Eaters well; with the sacred jewel gone the only thing linking the past and the present was Inuyasha's necklace that Kagome held the power over.

Kagome had left three days ago saying that she had finals to study for and that she'd be back in a week. He couldn't argue considering there was nothing left that they had to do. Naraku had been destroyed, taking Kohaku, Kanna, his other minions, and the sacred jewel down with him. All that was left to do was settle down and raise a family and he figured that when Kagome returned he would tell her his feelings for her and they could begin courting.

Trying to think of a way to tell her what he felt for her, Inuyasha jumped into the well and fell through the blue light for a moment before emerging in Kagome's time period. It was already getting dark here, as it was in the Feudal Era, and he could see a dim light coming from her bedroom window as he exited the shrine that housed the well.

Leaping agilely into the tree next to Kagome's window he paused and wondered if he should be bothering her while she was studying. She HAD said that these tests were important and that she'd have to do some major cramming if she was even going to come remotely close to passing. With that thought in mind he turned to go back to the well before he heard voices coming from Kagome's room. His dog-ears twitched as he swore he could hear a distinctly male voice in Kagome's room that wasn't her brothers. Moving closer, he listened intently to the voices coming from what had to be her bed from the sound of them.

"Kagome? What would you say if I asked you to go out with me?" the male voice asked, seemingly out of breathe for some reason.

'_WHAT? Who does this guy think he is?'_ Inuyasha thought angrily as he began to move towards the window, intent on teaching this idiot a lesson. He stopped, however, when Kagome's equally breathless reply met his ears.

"Oh Hojo, of course I'll go out with you. I mean we've gone so far already," Kagome said the second sentence in a voice that sounded almost seductive.

Completely shocked and not knowing what to do Inuyasha looked in the window to see Kagome and Hojo making out on her bed with Kagome wearing only her braw and panties. Anger and betrayal flashed in his eyes at the sight of the second woman he loved going into a heavy make out session with another man. Quickly, Inuyasha leapt down from the tree and made his way back towards the well were he nearly ran over Kagome's mother.

"Inuyasha…?" Mrs. Higurashi called out confusedly as she saw a flash of his golden eyes as they past her; so full of anger and torment, never before had she seen such a mix of emotions in his beautiful golden eyes. Before she could ask him what was wrong though he had already vanished down the well in a flash of blue light.

Looking back towards the window to her daughters' room Mrs. Higurashi decided that she should stay out of their business unless they asked her for her opinion and so she continued on towards the shrine's main steps so that she could finish her grocery run.

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Inuyasha's vision was beginning to blur as hot tears of pain began to flow down his face. He had already decided that he was not going back to Kaede's village, not wanting his friends to see him in his broken state, and had veered northwest into the forest instead.

'_I can't believe Kagome would do this to me!'_ Inuyasha thought as he increased his speed despite his vision impairment. _'Why? Why must the women I love betray me?!?'_

His hands were balled so tightly into fists that his claws had cut deeply into his palms and blood was beginning to pour from the wounds; he didn't feel it thought. The only thing he could feel was the pain of his already cracked heart being torn apart by the second woman he'd allowed himself to love.

'_First Kikyo and now Kagome…'_ he thought as he barely dodged a tree that he hadn't seen through the fog of his tears until it had almost been to late.

He didn't care anymore where he was going he just knew that he couldn't stop for fear of completely breaking down. So, instead, he concentrated on pumping his legs as fast as they could go in order to get him as far away from the person who'd hurt him so deeply as he could.

Hoping that he did not encounter anyone in the woods Inuyasha pressed onwards at an amazing speed with tears still freely flowing down his face. Little did he know that his path would soon cross with Sango's and their tears of pain would finally be recognized by someone who understood what they were going through.

'_**I will never allow myself to fall in love again!'**_ both demon slayer and half demon thought simultaneously as they continued racing through the forest, getting closer to each other with each passing second.

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**a/n: I apologise for any grammer or spelling mistakes. I'm really tired so I'm just gonna post it and leave it as it is... Sorry yall, no minute checking tonight :D Let me know what yall think of it so far plz...**

**READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	3. An Alliance of Broken Hearts

**a/n: Hey yall! Sorry for taking forever to update but I've been working alot more lately since school let out and my brother had his first baby so I've been spending alot of my time cooing over him. Adorable little Hardy Cash! ^.^ ...but newayz, this chappie is really long, alot longer than the first two so I hope it's alot better since my reviews seem to be few and far between. ;( (*tear) It's so sad.... But shut up me and ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!**

**"Speech"**

**_'Thoughts'_**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA! LUCKY FOR YOU PEOPLE!!! MUAHHAHAHHHA!!!! ~.~**

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Chapter 3- An Alliance of Broken Hearts

Sango and Kirara were a good ways away from the village when Kirara got tired and had to land and transform back into her smaller form. The sun was just beginning to rise, with Sango's village still a day and a half away, and Sango was confused why her cat demon companion would stop so suddenly.

Wiping her tears Sango picked up her now tiny companion and looked at her form for a moment before realizing that the tiny demon was completely exhausted. They'd been traveling all night and Kirara had spent the day before helping the villagers haul wood for repairing some of the huts.

"Oh Kirara! I'm so sorry! I should have realized you were tired earlier. You rest now; I'll run from here. I need to get some anger out of my system," Sango said as another wave of angry tears fell unbidden from her eyes.

Setting Kirara down for a moment, Sango quickly changed into her slayer's suit so that she would be able to run freely and in case of a demon attack. Allowing Kirara to climb up her arm and settle into a comfortable position between her hair, now unbound from its normal tie, and her shoulder she set off into the forest at a dead run. Tears still fell from her eyes that were no longer sad but held and anger fiercer than anything she'd ever felt before.

'I don't need a man! I'm a warrior! I can take care of myself,' Sango thought as she ran silently through the forest with the rising sun as her guide.

Inuyasha bounded through the trees at a constant speed throughout the night. The sun was just beginning to show itself through the trees when he opted to continue his travel on the ground due to the number of branches large enough to support his weight becoming scarce.

As much as it angered him, tears still fell freely from his beautiful golden eyes that were now dulled to a tarnished amber color with sadness. His pride as a man, and half-demon, pushed him to wipe away the tears and ignore the pain in his heart caused by the priestess' betrayal but his human heart refused to allow the tears to stop.

Images of Kagome and the human boy from her time together flashed through his mind and his heart clenched painfully. He gripped Tetsaiga tightly in his fist as he leapt over a fallen tree without pausing or breaking stride; at least it was comforting to know that his reflexes had not been dulled due to his current emotional state.

'I don't need a mate! I'm a warrior! I can handle anything that's stupid enough to mess with me!' Inuyasha thought as he sped through the forest at speeds that most full-blooded demon would be hard put to keep up with.

The forest was experiencing an abnormally serene morning. No demons rooting around, no humans roughly plowing their way through, just the small woodland animals of the area awakening to perform their usual morning activities.

This calm was broken, however, when two figures entered the small clearing from different angles and, in their haste, slammed into each other violently. The red clad figure spun off to the side drawing his large sword, causing it to transform into a large fang with a furry area around the hilt. The black figure flipped backwards away from the collision throwing a large boomerang at the red clad figure, with a smaller figure leaping from around the person's neck and transforming into a large fire cat with ruby red eyes and saber like teeth.

Inuyasha blocked Hiraikotsu with Tetsaiga but was forced back a few feet by the force behind the large weapon. His eyes widened at the familiarity of the weapon and he watched as it returned to its owner; confirming his suspicions of who his attacker was.

"Sango?" Inuyasha asked as he quickly tried to wipe away his tears with the sleeve of his hoari.

"Inuyasha?" Sango questioned as she caught her weapon and twirled it once to control its spin before taking her first good look at the figure before her.

Both warriors blushed at being caught with tearstains on their faces and furiously tried to wipe them away before the other noticed. Not surprisingly Inuyasha was first to recover from his initial embarrassment.

"What are you doing out here Sango? We're quite a ways from Kaede's village," Inuyasha asked once he was sure that his eyes were no longer producing tears; the stains would not soon go away without washing his face but that couldn't be helped and he trusted Sango not to criticize him for his tears.

He was shocked to see her face become suddenly sad and angry and a fresh set of tears begin to fall from her eyes despite the hard expression on her face.

"Miroku has found a woman that can satisfy his needs in ways I am unwilling to go to before marriage and apparently he got tired of waiting," Sango said as a large tear slid down her right cheek that she quickly wiped away, "I am returning to my village since I am no longer needed at Kaede's. I'll take up slaying again and hopefully rebuild my village and return it to its' former glory."

It didn't really shock Inuyasha that Miroku had cheated on Sango, in fact he'd smelt numerous girls' scents on the monk before but had thought it would hurt Sango too much to tell her; he was surprised though at the way Sango had reacted. He hadn't thought that she'd have left the village altogether without telling he or Kagome first. The thought of Kagome caused his heart to clench and a lone tear to fall from his eye before he caught himself and got his emotions back under control. He wiped the tear away so swiftly that Sango nearly missed the motion.

"Are you ok Inuyasha?" Sango asked as she finally noticed the tearstains on the half demon's face, "What are YOU doing so far away from Kaede's village?"

For a moment Inuyasha debated on whether or not to trust another woman with the secrets of his heart.

'_**She might hurt you just like Kikyo and Kagome,'**_ a voice echoed in the back of his mind.

Pushing that aside he thought of all the times that Sango had been there for him in battle and around Kaede's village when Kagome had left for the past and he was bored, allowing him to train with her and Kirara instead of going off by herself to do it. Suddenly something that Miroku had once told him flashed forth to the forefront of his mind.

'We're here for you Inuyasha: Kagome, I, and Sango especially. She has told me that she will stay with you whether you choose to be human, demon, or stay the way you are, and I believe that she would give her life for you in a heartbeat. She values your friendship that much.'

Making his decision Inuyasha sighed and sadly told the slayer what he'd found when he'd gone to the future to retrieve Kagome. The whole time he'd been telling the story his eyes had been on the ground but after a moment of silence and no response from Sango he was forced to bring his eyes up to the slayer that was standing before him shaking slightly.

"Sango?" Inuyasha asked as he eyed the slayer whose eyes were hidden by her thick bangs.

Suddenly Sango snapped her head up, her tears flying with her bangs, and a look of total and complete anger covered her face. Inuyasha was stunned at the look since he had not seen such loathing on her face since the death of Naraku.

'_What in the…' _he thought, but was cut off by Sango's loud exclamation.

"How could she?! How DARE she do that to you after all you've done for her!?!" Sango yelled loudly as her fist visibly tightened on Hiraikotsu's strap, "If I ever see that no good, two timing whore again I swear I'll brake every bone in her face and see how pretty she looks to the men she's whoring after then!"

Inuyasha was absolutely taken aback by Sango's quite violent threat towards the priestess who'd been nearly a sister to her while they were hunting jewel shards and Naraku.

"Sango how can you say that? She's done nothing to you," Inuyasha asked in astonishment.

This statement only seemed to further Sango's anger towards the woman in question as another loud yell came from her still crying form.

"But look at everything she's done to YOU! All the "sits" for no reason other than you didn't do what she told you to, running off to the future on a whim and leaving you to clean up the mess, telling you she loved you and then…And then cheating on you with some pathetic human from the future! What do you expect me to do Inuyasha? Just ignore everything she's done to you just because it wasn't ME that she was abusing and betraying!"

Inuyasha could do nothing but stare at the woman before him in amazement. Not a day before she had been eagerly awaiting her friends' return to the past but after he'd told her what the priestess had done to him she had immediately cast aside that friendship and had adopted a newfound hatred for the girl just because of the things that she'd done to him. It did not escape his notice that the tears that had stopped falling shortly after she had mentioned her now former fiancé had now begun to fall again in a much faster flow.

'_Is she crying for me?' _Inuyasha thought as he stared at the slayer who was no longer trying to hide her tears and the anger on her face.

"Sango…" Inuyasha said at a loss for words.

"Come with me Inuyasha," Sango said suddenly as she studied his weary form.

"What?"

"Come with me to my village Inuyasha! You can stay with me until you figure out what you're going to do next, since I'm fairly sure to don't want to risk returning to Kaede's village and running into that wench again, or you can stay with me for as long as you want to," Sango said as she looked deeply into his golden eyes.

"Sango. I…"he began. How was he to tell her that he didn't want to be around her because he was afraid of what she could do to his heart?

"I'd really appreciate the company Inuyasha. I haven't been alone in my village since my brother's death and, as much as I hate to admit, I don't know if I could handle it by myself," Sango said in a much softer voice as she looked away from his eyes for the first time since he'd begun his story.

His stomach lurched in an uncomfortable way at the mention of her now dead brother. He'd promised that he'd get Kohaku back for her and he'd failed. The image of Sango's broken and blood covered form collapsing over her brother's dead body in the torrential rain that followed Naraku's death appeared in his mind and he knew that he couldn't leave her alone to go through that again.

"Ok Sango. I'll come with you if you're sure that's what you want," Inuyasha said as he watched her eyes to see her reaction.

Surprised at the happiness that appeared in them at his acceptance Inuyasha was not ready for Sango to throw herself at him in a very understanding hug.

"Thank you Inuyasha. I am your friend and I will always be your friend not matter what so whatever it is that your worrying about, don't. I would have and still will give my life for yours if the situation ever calls for it. You can trust me," she said before pulling away and staring into his eyes seriously, "Now let's get going shall we? We still have another day and a half's journey ahead of us."

Inuyasha, still completely stunned by her deep and comforting words, merely nodded and followed Sango into the woods at a quick, yet comfortable pace as Kirara transformed back into her smaller self and resumed her place on her mistress' shoulders.

'_I can trust Sango with my life so that means I can trust her with my heart as well,'_ Inuyasha thought as he walked beside the woman who had just moments ago so adamantly defended him, a newfound wave of protectiveness for the slayer washed over him as he realized that she was his only friend, _'The only friend that I need.'_

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**a/n: Well DANG Sango! Rawr much? ...Well Kagome deserved it for bein such a skank! ! -_- ! And look at Inuyasha! Gettin all protective of Sango! He doesn't like her as a girlfriend or mate or nothing(yet) just as a friend who he's now very very close to and can actually trust not to betray him. Well yall tell me what you think plz! Yall know the drill.**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!! PLZ, PLZ, PLZ!!!**


	4. The Hanyou's Conviction

**a/n: Yay! I got 6 reviews for chappie 3! Yay!!! ...Newayz, I have had a few reviews tell me that Inuyasha and Sango seem OC (mainly Inuyasha) and I have to ask you people; wouldn't you be a little emotional if the second person you'd given your heart two had cheated on you and broken your heart for a second time? I sure as heck would! Maybe that's just me though... ?.? Oh well, ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!**

**"Speech"**

**_'Thoughts'_**

**DISCLAIMER: IZ NO OWN INU! I WISH I DIDZ BUT IZ DONTZ!!! T.T**

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Chapter 4- The Hanyou's Conviction

The demon slayer and the half demon traveled at a steady pace since they'd run into each other at dawn and by dusk Sango was beginning to slow. Being awake since dawn the day before was beginning to take its toll on Sango and she was doing everything she could to keep Inuyasha from noticing.

'_He must already think I'm weak as it is,' _Sango thought as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Inuyasha, however, had already caught on to Sango's exhausted state and had slowed his pace to match hers. He was debating whether or not to tell Sango they were stopping for the night when Sango's legs finally collapsed beneath her and he had to throw himself forward to catch her.

"Sango!" Inuyasha yelled as he held the half conscious slayer gently in his arms.

"I-I'm ok Inuyasha," Sango said as her eye lids fluttered again, "I'm just a little ti-tired."

With that the slayer promptly fell asleep in the arms of her half demon friend.

'_What am I supposed to do now?!'_ Inuyasha thought as he frantically looked around: as if the trees of the forest would somehow answer his unspoken question.

Looking back down to the sleeping woman in his arms he noticed that Kirara was no longer curled around her shoulders but was now standing on the ground in front of him looking up to him expectantly.

"What am I supposed to do Kirara? She's exhausted," Inuyasha asked the tiny kitten who looked at him for a moment with a look that said 'are you really that stupid' before transforming into her larger form.

He watched as she turned her back to him and turn her head and looked at him a moment before looking at her own back. Taking the hint for what it was Inuyasha carefully picked the slumbering woman up in his arms, blushing madly, and got on Kirara's back. With Sango safely snuggled in Inuyasha's arms Kirara set off towards the slayer's village to complete the last half-day of their journey.

Trusting that Kirara could find her way back to the place that had been her home for countless years Inuyasha took his eyes off of the forest below him and looked down at the beautiful woman who was completely out of it in his arms. This woman was all he had left and he fully intended to protect her with his life as she'd promised she'd do for him.

'_I WILL protect you Sango! You're the only person whose ever been willing to give their life for mine and I'm not going to let anything take this friendship away from me!' _Inuyasha thought fiercely.

After what seemed like a matter of moments Inuyasha was startled from his half conscious stupor by Kirara's low grumble as the walls of the slayer's village came into view. It was about midnight when the fire cat's large paws gently touched down on the ground inside the village and allowed the half demon to dismount. Transforming back into her smaller form Kirara mewed at Inuyasha and ran into the one hut that was left standing in the village.

Following the tiny cat's lead Inuyasha carried Sango's still sleeping form into the hut and was annoyed to see that half of the roof was caved in and one of the walls was nearly burnt in two.

'_That means that every time that Sango came to visit her village by herself she spent the night in this half fallen down piece of crap hut,'_ Inuyasha thought angrily as he lay the slayer in question down on the matt that was right beside the door and as far away from the collapsing ceiling and wall as possible in the confined space.

All this time he'd been so absorbed in his feelings for Kagome that he ignored the one person that had genuinely cared about him. Sango had watched as he battled his feelings for both of the priestess' in his life and had been there to support him in his decision to be with Kagome while putting her own emotional problems in the backseat. Not once had she asked anything of him in return, not even for help with her own shaky relationship with the monk.

'_Damn I was such an idiot! I can't believe that I used Sango like that! What am I; a whiney mooch like Kagome?_' Inuyasha thought as his anger reshaped itself and turned on its owner, _'How could I have been so blind? Well, from now, on I vow to help Sango in any way I can, and I won't leave until she tells me herself that she doesn't want me around anymore.'_

With that thought Inuyasha fell asleep with his back leaned up against the wall next to Sango's head with Tetsaiga in between his bent knees. His dreams, however, followed the same path as his thoughts. Every time that he'd used Sango as an outlet for his frustrations or as emotional support while fighting with Kagome flashed through his mind in pain staking clarity.

He watched some of their more violent spars, undoubtedly following a fight with Kagome, and winced as his dream self viciously attacked Sango, raking his sharp claws through her arm when she hadn't moved fast enough and adding insult to injury by laughing and calling her pathetic.

'_**No! Stop it you bastard!'**_ Inuyasha yelled at the dream image of himself who was taunting and laughing at the injured woman.

That was the last thing he saw before the visions faded and he was awoken by something heavy jumping onto his head. The object mewed and jumped to the ground in front of him to reveal itself as Kirara who had apparently noticed his nightmare and jumped onto his head to try to wake him.

'_Was it really a nightmare thought?'_ Inuyasha thought as he looked to the sleeping woman beside him that was becoming more visible as the sun rose and rays of light came through the half burnt wall.

Carefully, Inuyasha grabbed the sleeve of Sango's kimono and slowly pulled it up to reveal four long scars perfectly spaced from each other that could not have been caused by anything other than claws. He ran his fingers over the four lines gently and winced at finding that they were fairly thick meaning that the wound itself had been deep.

'_How could I have done that to her?' _Inuyasha thought incredulously, _'Why hasn't she ever said anything to me about it? How could she possibly still want to be my friend after what I've done to her?'_

"Inuyasha"

Startled out of his reverie by Sango's voice he looked up from the arm that he'd scarred to the face of the woman that he half expected to be angry; after all, look what he'd done to her. However, he was not expecting the soft look in her eyes accompanied by an equally soft expression that held no anger or resentment anywhere in its' depths.

"Sango I…" He was unable to finish that sentence as Sango promptly slapped him hard across the face.

Now that had been more like what he'd thought she'd do, but from her previous soft expression he really hadn't been prepared for a slap; especially one as powerful as the one she'd given him that had set him on his backside.

"What the hell Sango?" Inuyasha yelled as he clutched the large red handprint that the slayer had left on his face.

"Well that's more like the Inuyasha I know! With all these emotions flying around lately I was beginning to think you'd gone soft on me," Sango said with a smirk.

He was shocked by the slayer's words yet again. Had he really been acting all emotional lately?

'_**YES!'**_ a voice in his mind told him.

"Feh! Whatever Sango. It's about time you got up. I had to carry your lazy ass into the hut since your human body was so exhausted that I couldn't have shaken you awake if I'd tried," Inuyasha said as he folded his arms across his chest and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his fire rat haori and turning his face away stubbornly.

Sango giggled at her half demon friend's antics and stood, dusting off the kimono that she'd changed into shortly after crashing into Inuyasha since the traveling was slower and the risk of demon attack had reduced greatly with the half demon's presence.

"Thank you for taking care of me Inuyasha, but if you'll excuse me I think I'll head down to the stream to freshen up before I take care of the graves. After that we can begin work on rebuilding the village if that's ok with you."

"Ya. Sure. Whatever Sango. It's your village, you just tell me what you need me to do," Inuyasha said as he stood as well.

"Alright. Well I'll be back shortly and we can begin."

Inuyasha watched as Sango exited the hut with Kirara hot on her heels. Turning back to look at the ruined hut that they were living in he decided that this would be his first project. Leaving the hut himself he looked around the village to see if there was any material that would still be salvageable for use on repairs and set out to work.

'_If Sango doesn't want to talk about it then I won't force her,'_ Inuyasha thought in reference to the scars on her arm, _'Oh well, might as well get started while she's gone.'_

_

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_

**a/n: There yall go people. Inuyasha has gotten over Kagome and is finally starting to get back to his old self. HAPPY?!?! .....kidding, kidding! Hope yall liked it!**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!! I LUV MY REVIEWER PEEPS!!!**


	5. The Building Begins

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a/n: Hey yall! I was very very productive tonight and actually published a fairly long chapter for each of my stories AND made a long one-shot for Naruto as well. It was alot of writing and I literally stayed up all night doing it but I enjoyed it! ^.^ Here's chappy 5 and I tried to stay more in character(I think I did better)but yall will have to tell me what you think. ....Neways, ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!

**(NOT DOIN THE "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS' THINGY ANYMORE CUZ IF YOU'VE READ 5 CHAPTERS YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE DRIFT BY NOW^.^)**

**DISCLAIMER: YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME TO OWN INUYASHA MR. DUDE-THAT-OWNS-INUYASHA-THAT-I-CURRENTLY-CAN'T-RECALL-YOUR-NAME. YOU KNOW YOU DO!!!**

* * *

Chapter 5- The Building Begins

When Sango had finally returned from the stream with a large bundle of fresh flowers for the graves of the villagers she was surprised to see that Inuyasha had already started tearing down the half-burnt wall with his bare hands and had already completely taken off the ceiling of the hut. Continuing on past the graves with the flowers still in her hands Sango made her way towards Inuyasha who was currently ripping off a large chunk of the burnt wall.

"Inuyasha," Sango called out as she approached him, "you didn't have to start without me. Now I feel like I'm using you instead of having you help me."

Inuyasha paused in what he was doing and looked at the slayer amusedly.

"Whatever Sango. You go take care of the graves and then hurry up and get to work," Inuyasha said roughly with a smirk on his face, "I don't plan on being anybody's slave so you better get to work too!"

Sango smiled and turned around and quickly ran back to the graves yelling "Ok Inuyasha. Whatever you say!" over her shoulder as she ran. The half demon watched for a moment as the happy slayer swiftly turned sullen as she quickly but carefully tending to the graves of her villagers. He was amazed at how swiftly her mood had changed when she'd reached the graves of her people and he was once again glad that he'd come along with her. Deciding that he needed to quit staring and get back to work, Inuyasha turned and grabbed another burnt chunk of wall quite close to the base and yanked roughly.

He was not ready, however, for the entire wall to come with the piece that he had. He yelled "Oh crap!" and turned to move before the wall came down on him in a big ashy anime style glomp.

"Inuyasha!" Sango yelled worriedly as she ran towards the half demon that was now submerged in a sea of burnt wood and ash.

Upon reaching the pile that he was under Sango unhesitatingly started grabbing chunks of burnt wood and flinging them away while yelling Inuyasha's name worriedly the whole time. When she'd finally gotten to him Inuyasha was cursing loudly and rubbing at his head where a sharp piece of wood had cut him.

"Inuyasha are you ok?" Sango asked as she looked him over for any other signs of injury, disregarding the state that her own hands were in due to her frantic flinging of charred and splintered wood.

"Feh! I'm fine. Stupid piece of crap wall!" Inuyasha cursed the wall for the fourth or fifth time since she'd uncovered him.

"Here Inuyasha, let me help you up," Sango said as she extended one of her bloody hands to the half demon who accepted it and allowed her to pull him to his feet before he noticed the blood.

"Sango what'd you do to yourself now?!" Inuyasha asked half angry, half worried as his protective side immediately took over, "Don't tell me you did this to yourself trying to get me out of that stupid pile of wood."

Immediately on the defensive Sango jerked her hands away from his and turned her back to him.

"Well excuse me for being worried when the only person I have left gets crushed by a falling wall," Sango said with her arms crossed across her chest defiantly.

Inuyasha immediately softened at her words and grabbed her shoulder and turned her around gently so that he could look at her hands.

"I'm sorry Sango. It's just that you shouldn't worry so much about me. I'm a half demon and no little half burnt wall is gonna take me down," he said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

He was rewarded with a small smile from Sango as she allowed him to take a good look at her hands. He scrutinized them for a minute before looking back up at her with a disapproving expression that needed no words to tell her that he wasn't happy about her doing this to herself to try to save him.

"I know, I know, Inuyasha. I'll go down to the river and clean them properly and I have some bandages that I can wrap them in as well. Ok?" Sango said as she looked into his concerned golden eyes.

The look within their golden depths confused her though. She'd only seen that kind of look directed towards Kagome or Kikyo. Mentally shaking her head to get rid of that ridiculous thought she shrugged it off as her imagination before turning to head back down to the river for the second time that day.

Inuyasha, however, did not turn back to his work, but instead watched Sango until he could not see her anymore. After that he looked down at his own hands to find that some of Sango's blood was there as well.

'_Was she really __that__ worried about me?'_ Inuyasha thought as he continued to stare at the crimson liquid that was left on his hands from Sango's.

Shrugging it off as nothing more than her being worried about her friend, Inuyasha turned back towards the pile he'd just climbed out of a smirked.

"At least the wall's down now."

* * *

When Sango returned with her hands freshly cleaned and bandaged she found that Inuyasha had already hauled the ruined wood and roofing away with the help of Kirara who'd been with him since Sango had left for the stream. She was surprised at the amount of work he'd gotten done while she'd been gone. A stab of guilt shot through her stomach as she thought of how she'd done basically nothing while Inuyasha was doing all the work on renovating _her_ village.

"Hey Sango. I better not see you trying to lift anything heavy with those messed up hands of yours," Inuyasha called out from the edge of the village that he was returning from dumping some ruined wood from.

"What are you gonna do about it Inuyasha? I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself," she called back as she grabbed a large piece of wood from the ground beside her and had to hold back a wince so that the half demon wouldn't see her pain and figure out that he was right after all.

"Feh! I can see it in your face that it's hurting you to hold that wood right now," Inuyasha said as he walked forward and took the wood from her, "Why don't you just do yourself and me a favor and just take it easy until your hands get better. Pick the weeds so that they're out of the way, and look for any excess materials that are salvageable that we can use for rebuilding."

Knowing that the half demon was right Sango merely sighed and assented to his request. Walking until she found a serviceable woven basket, Sango then began to pick all the weeds around their hut and then the entire village, which proved to be arduous work and by the time she'd finished it was already lunch time.

"Hey Inuyasha!" Sango called out as she approached the half demon that had already rebuilt the fallen wall and was currently working on the support beams for the roof, "What do you say we take a break and go down to the river and catch some fish for lunch?"

Always quick to come at the mention of food Inuyasha nimbly leapt off the roof and landing softly beside Sango who was still holding a woven basket full of freshly picked weeds.

"Bout time Sango. I thought you'd never take a break!" Inuyasha complained loudly as he stretched his arms behind his head as they walked and Sango noticed for the first time that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Blushing madly and turning her head Sango hoped fervently that Inuyasha had not noticed her embarrassing reaction to his current clothing. Lucky for her Inuyasha had his eyes closed and was walking along with both arms folded behind his head. Sango forced her body to calm itself and was relieved when she felt the heat leave her cheeks before Inuyasha opened his eyes again.

'_Calm yourself Sango! Look at you blushing like a lovesick idiot! This is Inuyasha we're talking about. Plus, you don't need a man remember?'_ Sango thought as she tried to convince her hormones of what her brain was saying.

She didn't have time to finish that train of thought as they'd arrived at the river and Inuyasha looked at her expectantly.

"Well, did you think to bring a net?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

Sango merely laughed at him and Kirara mewed her amusement from somewhere near his feet.

"We don't use a net Inuyasha. Kirara and I have a much more effective method for catching fish."

Inuyasha watched in slight shock as Sango hiked up her kimono to a length that almost rivaled Kagome's skirt and tied it to her waist. His eyes were drawn to her toned, athletic legs that seemed tan despite never being exposed to sunlight. His face became bright red as his eyes drifted to the tantalizingly short length that her kimono now was and he had not force himself to look away before Sango noticed.

The brunette, however, was completely oblivious as she took up her position in the stream and Kirara transformed into her larger self.

"Sango what the…?"

"Shh! Just watch," Sango said as she settled her hands down into the stream and waited for a group of fish to swim between them.

When a group of four fish finally did swim between her frozen hands Sango quickly grabbed one while kicking the other three towards Kirara who swiftly slapped her paw into the water and knocked all three ashore with one stroke. Sango, still holding the squirming fish, smiled as she waded back towards shore and deposited her fish with the ones that Kirara had gotten.

"Now let's eat shall we?"

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**a/n: There you go! Better about being in character? Maybe just a little? Oh well, if it isn't then at least I tried right? (*people shake head no*)... T.T so cruel!!**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!! YOU GOTTA TELL ME IF I AM OR NOT CUZ THE *PEOPLE* SAY I'M NOT! ...T.T...**


	6. The Slayers' Return

**a/n: Hey yall!!! Sorry for taking so long to update but I've had lots of stuff going on recently and writing has kinda been put back on the back burner. However, today I have written a chapter for each of my Inuyasha stories so I am proud of myself...^.^ ...Well, anwayz, ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!**

**DISCLAIMER: TEXASCOWGIRL-13 DON'T OWN INU, BUT NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING!!! **

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Chapter 6- The Slayers' Return

After spending the night in a newly renovated hut, thanks to Inuyasha's hard work, the two warriors were up at the crack of dawn to begin another day of rebuilding. Sango's hands had improved greatly overnight and she adamantly refused to do menial labor again while Inuyasha did the hard work. She had just come back from the village storage shed, one of the few buildings only minorly damaged in the destruction, and was walking towards the gate carrying new chains, freshly oiled to replace the old rusty ones that were only barely supporting the heavy timber gate's weight.

She skillfully replaced each of the chains with deft movements that only someone who'd done so numerous times could do. Satisfied with her handiwork Sango swung down using the chain and let herself drop the remaining ten feet to the ground. She landed softly on her feet and was about to stand when suddenly a sword swung out from the entrance of the village and she was forced to bring out the hidden blade from her arm to block the attack. Flipping backwards she avoided another swing and was finally able to see that her attacker was none other than a human villager in normal clothes that seemed to have traveled all day.

Sango was surprised that a human villager would be anywhere near her abandoned village much less be attacking her for reasons unknown. His attacks, however, were extremely rudimentary and Sango was quickly able to out maneuver him and nock his sword away with her small blade. She had just knocked him to the ground and placed her blade at his neck when Inuyasha arrived with Tetsaiga drawn and an alarmed look on his face.

"What the hell Sango? Who's this guy?" Inuyasha yelled as Tetsaiga transformed back into its' smaller form and he sheathed it.

"How should I know Inuyasha? He just attacked me when I jumped down from fixing the gate," Sango said as she glared back at him for a moment before turning back to the human man and pushing the blade slightly closer to his neck, "Now what's your name and why did you attack me?"

"My name is Sundi. I am the son of the headman of the village a day's journey from here. There has been rumors that the last remaining demon slayer has returned to her village and that she will be taking up slaying again," The young man said as he tried not to fear the beautiful woman above him who currently held a knife to his throat, "I was sent to assure that you were indeed the Lady Slayer and to ask for your assistance in exterminating a group of panther demons that have been plaguing our village for nearly a year now."

Satisfied with his answer Sango put away her blade and stood, offering the young man a hand up. Inuyasha growled slightly in warning to let him know that were he to try anything he'd be answering to a very angry half demon.

"Very well Sundi. Your father is aware that we require payment correct?" Sango questioned as she crossed her arms and looked him over for any other weapon that could be concealed within his kimono.

"Yes Lady Slayer. My father is ready to pay whatever price you ask. We are a very wealthy village but lately our trade has halted due to the demon's attacks and his is willing to pay you handsomely for your unique services."

Sango nodded and turned to Inuyasha with a smile. The half demon looked at her questioningly wondering why she seemed so happy all of a sudden.

"What do you say Inuyasha? Ready to kill some demons and actually earn some money doing it?" Sango asked with an excited smile.

"Uh, sure Sango. You know I'm always up for a good fight." He began unsure of whether or not he trusted the human, but said the last statement in his usual bold, self-assured tone that Sango associated solely with Inuyasha.

"When will you be ready?" Sundi asked nervously as he looked back towards the villages' gates as if he could see his own village from merely looking out.

Sango paused and looked back at Inuyasha. The half demon merely shrugged and looked at her.

"Now I guess. Just let me change and grab my Hiraikotsu," Sango said as she jogged back to the hut to change into her slayer's suit.

When she'd completely vanished into the hut Sundi moved slightly closer to Inuyasha and whispered in an almost conspiratorial tone.

"Is she really as powerful a demon slayer as they say she is?"

Inuyasha merely smirked and folded his arms into the sleeves of his hoari.

"You have no idea buddy."

Sundi was not given a chance to respond as Sango was already returning from her hut, fully clothed in her slayer garb and tying her hair up in a high pony tail while walking forward. The young man's eyes widened at the sight of the form fitting suit and how well it accentuated her feminine curves. Inuyasha growled slightly at the man's blatant ogling and received a questioning look from Sango who was completely oblivious to the state she'd just put Sundi in.

"It's nothing. Let's go," Inuyasha said now thoroughly annoyed that he'd have to go anywhere with this man.

"Ok. You heard him Kirara, let's go."

Mewing once in acknowledgement of her mistress' command, the fire cat was suddenly surrounded in flames before emerging in her large saber form. Sundi was absolutely terrified of the tiny kitten who'd suddenly turned into a huge demon and was about to run away screaming before Inuyasha grabbed his collar and hauled him back in Kirara's direction.

"Oh come on you idiot. She's not gonna' hurt ya!" Inuyasha said gruffly with a slight smirk on his face.

Sango was already mounted and Inuyasha had to forcibly throw the young man onto the cat demon's back before he would go anywhere near her.

"No! No! I don't want to get eaten! She's just like those panther demons! Get me away!"

Inuyasha growled in annoyance and looked at Sango whose brows were quirked and gave him an unhelpful shrug.

"Do YOU know the way to his village Sango?" Inuyasha ground out as he still had a firm grip on the hysteric man's collar.

"Yes Inuyasha I've been to this village several times in the past. Although, it never had problems with demons before since it was located so close to a slayer's village. But what does that have to do with-"

She was unable to finish her sentence as Inuyasha promptly conked the guy on the head with Tetsaiga's hilt and threw him over Kirara's back.

"That'll shut him up and we'll get there faster now," Inuyasha said quite pleased with the fact that Sango merely rolled her eyes and did not try to scold him or send him face first into the dirt.

'_That's right. Kagome was the only one who had control over the necklace and I don't have to worry about her anymore. Plus, Sango wouldn't do that to me anyway,'_ Inuyasha thought as he followed Kirara's flight by jumping through the treetops.

* * *

They made the daylong trip to the village in good time and arrived shortly before the sun began to set. Being informed that the panther demons only attacked at night due to the advantage of camouflage that the darkness would give them along with the fact that most of the village's men were tired from working in the fields all day by the time night fell.

"We understand," Sango said to the headman after she instructed the other villagers to go into the village tavern and stay there, "One of us shall come get you when we've finished the panther demons off. Do not come out until we say you can."

"Yes Lady Slayer, but I feel I must ask. Are you sure that you can trust that half demon? Whose to say he isn't in alliance with the panther demons?" the headman asked as he watched Inuyasha who was a short distance away and who he thought was out of earshot.

"I am very sure Headman. I trust Inuyasha with my life so there is nothing to worry about," Sango said with a smile before walking away and leaving the headman to enter the tavern and lock its' doors.

Inuyasha was smirking slightly when she approached and she knew that he'd heard her whole conversation with the headman. The short distance he'd put between himself and the two conversing humans was only to comfort the already nervous and mistrusting village leader, it did nothing to prevent him from hearing the entire conversation.

"Come on Inuyasha you don't want some cats getting the better of you," Sango taunted as she walked by him with a slight smile on her face.

"Ya right! Like some pathetic feline could even land a single hit on me!" Inuyasha boasted as he kept pace with the slayer as she headed towards the edge of the village.

Kirara mewed in protest to his very rude comment and Inuyasha nearly tripped over his own words as he backpedaled, trying to apologize to the tiny feline. Sango merely walked along, listening amusedly to the half demon's stumbling statements. There moment of goofing around, however, was cut abruptly short as Sango saw a flash of black and was barely able to bring her Hiraikotsu up fast enough to block the panther demon that had just attacked.

"Sango!" Inuyasha yelled as the demon tried to claw its' way through Hiraikotsu to get to the woman on the ground.

Before Inuyasha could get to her through, Sango supported the full weight of her weapon and the demon on top of it with one arm while drawing her katana with the other and slicing through the cat's body.

"I'm fine Inuyasha! Heads up!" Sango yelled as she pushed herself off the ground and launched Hiraikotsu at a group of demons that were running towards the village from the forest.

"Feh!" Inuyasha said as he simply drew Tetsaiga and began to slice through any demon that came his way; any of Tetsaiga's powerful attacks would decimate the village and the surrounding forest so he was left with merely sword swings.

The two warriors were making short work of the pack of panther demons; Kirara being left behind to protect the villagers in case any demons were to sneak past them. The demon's numbers and size were the only reason that they were a threat at all and neither of those things bothered Inuyasha or Sango overly much. Neither had received so much as a scratch from the fifteen or so demons that they'd each fought. They knew, however, that the leader of the pack was still hiding within the safety of the trees waiting for the right time to strike, and from its' demonic aura it would be a much greater challenge than its' weakling pack members.

"Hey Sango!" Inuyasha called out without pausing in his attacks.

"Yah?"

"You think you could throw Hiraikotsu and urge their leader over there into joining the battle?"

"No problem," Sango said as she spun around once to gain momentum before sending her massive boomerang flying into the group of trees that the panther demon leader had taken refuge in.

That was apparently just the thing that the demon had been waiting for as it immediately launched itself out of the trees and made it's way straight for the weaponless slayer. Or so it thought before it's claws met the hard steel of Sango's katana with a loud clang. She heard Hiraikotsu returning but was unable to move to catch it since the panther demon leader was pushing all of it's three hundred pounds onto her shaking arms and forcing her to slide backwards slowly. With a loud roar the panther forced all of his strength into one powerful strike that sent Sango flying backwards and crashing into one of the village's outer huts.

"Sango!" Inuyasha yelled as he turned just in time to see the huge demon send her small form careening into a wooden wall.

"She's finished," the leader purred as it turned and made it's way towards Inuyasha, "Now it's your turn dog boy."

He sniffed the air momentarily and smirked as he caught the scent of Sango's Hiraikotsu beside the hut that she had crashed into and could see her black form grabbing it from the corner of his eyes.

"No I think it's your turn pussy cat."

The leader looked surprised before his small ear twitched and the sound of a weapon being flung through the air reached his ears just before the boomerang sliced easily through his body.

Inuyasha looked to Sango who was now panting and bleeding slightly from a few minor cuts she received upon her impact with the hut. The look on her face was fierce and Inuyasha could not help but feel proud that this woman called him friend. He swiftly sheathed Tetsaiga and made his way over to her as her weapon returned and she caught it deftly.

"You ok Sango?" Inuyasha asked as he looked over the various cuts and gashes on her body.

"Nothing a nice long bath and a few bandages won't fix Inuyasha. Nothing to worry about."

With that the two made their way back to the tavern as the sun rose above the mountains in the east.

"Looks like we pulled an all-nighter," Sango said as she readjusted the strap of her Hiraikotsu so that it wasn't rubbing painfully against one of her open wounds, "I'm gonna charge them extra for that."

Her last statement was said with a smile and a wink and Inuyasha laughed slightly at the deviousness of his friend.

* * *

After Sango had cleansed her wounds and collected her fee they waved goodbye one last time to the headman and Sundi.

"Thank you so much for all your help Lady Slayer! We are greatly indebted to you and your half demon friend!" Sundi yelled to the two warriors who were on the hill just outside the village.

"Then do me one favor!" Sango yelled back, "Spread the word that the slayer's have returned!"

* * *

**a/n: Well, well. Look at what a good team Sango and Inuyasha make now that they don't have to worry bout useless Miroku and Kagome getting in the way! And Inu was getting a little bit jealous of Sundi looking at Sango but he didn't even realize it! Muaahahahah!!! And so it begins! ^.^ **

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW IN HOPES OF A QUICK UPDATE!!! **


	7. Strands of Feelings Unravel

**a/n: Hey yall... A little bit faster update than last time but still not that fast. -.- Well! ...This chappie's got alot of feelings and stuff(check the title *hint, hint*) so if your not into that then don't read it. I had an _ANONYMOUS_ review on last chapter that said he "knew I was a girl without going to my profile because I didn't do the fight scene right cuz Inuyasha's not weak enough to let some panther demons keep him from helping Sango." All I have to say to that is that if you'll !note! what I actually said Inuyasha wasn't stopped from helping her, Sango merely reacted before he had a chance to help!!! ...Anyways, sorry bout that little crazy rant there it just bothers me that anonymous reviewers have the gall to critisise my stories knowing that I cannot contact them in anyway to clear up the problem or address their flaming... But THANK YOU to all you reviewers who actually read my writing and give constructive critisism and support instead of flaming! But reguardless, ON TO THE STORY!!!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE OWNY PAPERS(COPYRIGHT) FOR INUYASHA... :( ...MAYBE I'LL MAKE MY OWN ANIME!!! (*shakes heads*) ...or not T.T **

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Chapter 7- The Feelings Unravel a Strand

They had both traveled on Kirara's back due to the fact that both were tired from fighting the numerous demons. Sango had drifted off to sleep and had slumped back against Inuyasha's chest, causing the hanyou to blush a deep scarlet but he did not try to awaken her.

'_She's exhausted,'_ Inuyasha thought as he looked down at the slumbering woman in his arms, _'We've been awake for two days in a row now so I'm really not that surprised she fell asleep.'_

When Kirara's feet touched down on the grounds of Sango's village Inuyasha carefully gathered her into his arms and took her into the hut they were sharing. He lay her down on her futon, just as he had when they first arrived at the village a few days ago, and took his place in the corner with his back against the wall. Tired as well, it did not take long for the sleepy half demon to join his slayer friend in dreamland.

* * *

Inuyasha awoke around noon to find that Sango was nowhere to be seen. The hut was empty, save his own presence, and by her scent she'd left her futon over an hour ago. Standing and stretching his body Inuyasha slid Tetsaiga's sheath back into its' place at his side and left to search for Sango.

He found her a short distance away dragging pieces of salvageable wood into a large pile that had not been there when he'd gone to sleep that morning. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail to keep it off her neck but it did little to help as her face was still covered in sweat from the hard work she'd been doing for quite some time.

'_Some of those pieces of wood are huge!'_ Inuyasha thought in shock as he glanced at Sango's large woodpile, _'I guess it shouldn't surprise me though. I mean Hiraikotsu itself is probably heavier than most of the wood in that pile.'_

"Hey Sango!" Inuyasha yelled as he approached the slayer, "You should have woken me up. I'm here to help you ya know."

"Well I fell asleep on you yesterday and I figured since you had to stay awake to keep me from falling off of Kirara that you needed to get your rest," Sango said as stood and whipped the sweat from her forehead.

"Feh! Whatever. I'm a half demon, I don't need as much sleep as you," Inuyasha said as he crossed his arms and looked at her with an annoyed expression.

Sango merely smiled and leapt off the top of the pile. It was then that Inuyasha noticed that she was not wearing her normal kimono. Instead she was wearing what appeared to be a pair of Kagome's shorts and a sleeveless shirt that Sango had borrowed when both her kimono and slayer's suit were dirty.

"Sa…Sa…Sango?" Inuyasha stuttered as his face became beet red and his ears flattened on his head.

"What? What's your face so red for Inuyasha?" Sango asked, completely oblivious to her current apparel.

"What..? What the hell are you doing in _that_?!" he yelled while pointing accusingly at the clothing in question.

"Huh?"

Sango looked down and finally realized that she was wearing an old outfit of Kagome's that she'd borrowed and never gotten the chance to return. The heat from the summer sun was literally melting her in her long kimono so she'd opted to change into the lighter and cooler apparel. After all, she no longer had to worry about Miroku leering at her like she was a piece of meat.

"Well… I, uh…" she began, unsure of what to say to her incredibly red faced friend, "It was hot and my kimono is too heavy so uh…"

By now Sango was just as red as Inuyasha and her stuttered explanation trailed off. After a moment of awkward silence Inuyasha simply shrugged off the top of his fire rat hoari, leaving only his baggy red pants on.

"You're right Sango. It is hot."

With that he slung the top over his shoulder and set out towards the next job that needed to be done. Sango sighed in relief that the embarrassing situation had ended but could not help but notice the muscles in her friend's back ripple as he strode away.

'_He really is a fine model of a man…'_ Sango thought as her eyes lingered a moment too long, _'and he would never treat me the way Miroku did… No! I can't think of him this way! I told myself that I'd never love again and I won't! …I can't.' _

Tearing her eyes away from the departing half demon with a quick wrench of her neck Sango turned back to the task of hauling the salvageable wood; still so much to do and so little daylight to do it with. As she turned back to work, however, the image of her handsome half demon friend wearing only a pair of pants remained forefront in her mind.

* * *

'_By the gods, it was harder to walk away from Sango like that then I would have thought,'_ Inuyasha thought as he lay his hoari top down and began drew Tetsaiga so that he could tear down the old huts quicker; most of them were past the point of fixing and would have to be started over from scratch, _'and I thought Kagome had nice legs. Hers were nothing compared to Sango's. The way those shorts sat on her long, toned legs…Wait! I can't think like this about Sango! She's just a friend!'_

Shaking his head to rid his mind of its' traitorous thoughts Inuyasha tried to ignore the image of Sango's toned, athletic form in Kagome's tantalizingly short outfit as he swung Tetsaiga to begin "demolition" as Sango had called it. Just the thought of her name sent his mind reeling in a very off limits direction and he had to increase his speed of "attack" to preoccupy his mind.

'She's just a friend! I promised myself I wouldn't allow my heart to love again after Kagome! Why am I feeling this way?'

* * *

By the end of the day both warriors had gotten their fair share of work done; Sango having built a very large pile of usable wood, stated that there was no more left that could be used for their purposes, and Inuyasha having demolished all of the remaining huts, save two or three that only needed a little roof work, and had hauled the debris to a large pit outside the village.

The sun was setting in the west when the two met at the entrance to their hut, both covered in sweat and dirt from their incredibly hard day's work. Sango's hair random long strands that had fallen from her high ponytail, leaving some of her long brunette strands up and some hanging down and frizzing slightly, causing Inuyasha to laugh slightly. Sango, herself, was giggling at the way Inuyasha's long bang-like strands of hair were sticking to the sides of his face, as was the rest of his hair along his back, giving him the look of a soaking wet dog.

It did not take long for their giggles to turn into full-blown laughter and the two were nearly to the point of rolling on the floor when a loud noise from Sango's stomach interrupted their merriment. Said slayer immediately blushed a deep red and wrapped her arms around her complaining stomach embarrassedly.

"Looks like your hungry Sango," Inuyasha said with a fanged smile, "I am too so I'll go hunt down a deer if you'll build a fire."

"Ok Inuyasha. Sounds good."

Sango turned and headed towards the gate of the village to retrieve some of the fallen limbs for wood to use for the fire as Inuyasha leapt away to begin the hunt. She didn't have to travel far in search of wood and in a matter of minutes she was making her way back to the village with an armload of wood.

Choosing an open spot on the ground not far from their hut Sango set out to start a fire with some of the wood that she'd retrieved. Grabbing her starting stones, she quickly made sparks and lit the fire. Satisfied that the small fire would remain lit for a moment she headed back into the hut to change into her normal kimono before Inuyasha returned.

'_His face was awfully red when he noticed the clothes that I was wearing,' _Sango thought as she shed the sweat and dirt covered articles, _'Of course my face wasn't much better when he took of his hoari top. By the gods his body is amazingly sculpted. I never realized since he always wears his baggy fire rat robes.'_

Not realizing that she was thinking about Inuyasha in a way more than a friend, Sango finished tying on her obi and walked back outside to check on the fire with her mind still traveling along the same train of thought. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't since the low class spider demon that was hiding in the shadows of her hut waiting for her to exit the hut.

'_That's strange. I thought I felt a small demonic aura for a moment there,'_ Sango thought as she paused her stride a few feet away from the fire.

Turning swiftly with eyes wide, Sango brought up her arm just in time for it to take the hit from the demon's spiny leg that was meant to strike her across the chest. She fell backwards from the mere force of the hit and landed hard on her back, temporarily knocking the breath out of her. As she gasped to try to regain her breath the spider demon leapt forward to make use of the chance it had been giving.

'_Crap! I don't have my slayer's suit on under my kimono because of the heat!'_ Sango thought as she braced her arms in front of her face and awaited the upcoming impact.

She saw a blur of red out of the corner of her eye and sighed in relief as Inuyasha swept Tetsaiga above her and through the lowly demon. Lowering her arms from their defensive position in front of her, Sango held her injured right arm to her chest as she sat up and looked at the annoyed half demon that was sheathing his sword. He turned to her and immediately began the rant that she knew was sure to come; the look on his face, however, was not the angry one she'd been expecting.

'_There's that look again. Is he really that concerned about me?'_ Sango thought as she half listened to the half demon's disgruntled ranting and half focused on digesting his expression.

"What the hell Sango? What were you doing? You let some weak ass spider demon get the best of you! Do you realize how pathetic it would have been for the 'Last Living Slayer' to be defeated by a low class spider demon?!"

His last yelled statements only being the tale end of the rant and the only bit of it that she'd actually listened to. When he finished he looked at her angrily for a moment before heaving a frustrated sigh and squatting down to examine the heavily bleeding wound. Sango was about to jerk her arm out of his hand and harshly tell him off for getting so worried over her, she had a plan all along after all, but the concerned and gentle expression on his face dashed those thoughts.

"It's nothing Inuyasha. It just caught me off guard, that's all," Sango said as she watched his golden eyes flicker over the bloodied area, "I'll go clean it off at the river while you start cooking ok?"

His eyes narrowed and flashed up to meet her soft brown eyes with a look of annoyance.

"What makes you think I'm letting you go down to the river by yourself at night when you just let yourself get your ass kicked by a weak ass spider demon within the village?"

"I am not a child Inuyasha! I had a plan to deal with that demon and would have quickly dispatched of it had you not interfered!" Sango yelled back angry at Inuyasha's implication that she was weak, "Now I'm going down to the river, _by myself_, and when I get back that venison had better be on the fire or there's going to be another demon that gets it's ass kicked tonight!"

Angrily marching away Sango could not help but picture his tender and worried expression.

'_He's worried, that's all,'_ Sango thought as she exited the village with Kirara following closely behind for protection, _'That doesn't mean that he can get away with calling me weak though!'_

Inuyasha himself was slightly angry at Sango for yelling at him after he'd just saved her from a demon that was about to impale her.

'_Feh! Idiotic woman! I save her ass and she gets pissed off at me!'_ Inuyasha thought as he turned to retrieve the deer that he'd dropped near the village gate when he'd seen Sango was under attack, _'Her arm looked pretty painful though. I guess that I shouldn't have yelled at her that much.' _

He then realized that Sango had changed back into her normal kimono at some point which led his mind to refresh the memory of her scantily clad form in the "tank top" and "shorts" of Kagome's.

'No one can deny that Sango has a very shapely form. Her body is much more toned and firm than Kagome or Kikyo's ever was. Not to mention that her breasts are much fuller as well…'

His thoughts continued on the path of Sango's form as he stuck the venison on the fire to cook after cutting them into smaller portions. He didn't know that Sango, still cleaning her wound at the river, was thinking of him as well. Neither noticed that their once blatant refusal to think of the other in a way further than friendship had now diminished to feeble thoughts that, themselves, were few and far between.

'Maybe there's a chance that I could love again,' both thought simultaneously from their separate locations; one with the lull of the river soothing their heart, and the other listening to the soft crackle of the fire and watching the orange sparks drift off into the blackness of the night sky.

* * *

**a/n: There yall go! Oh, I did want to take this time to address my reviewers one last time, since apparently this is my "ranting about reviewers" chappy. **

**To Kasuchi, Koichi: Your review about the panther demons made me laugh. I don't know about anybody else but I just used panther demons because I thought it was appropriately ironic for a half dog demon and a demon slayer to battle glorified kitties! I appreciate the review and applaud you for a very valid and noteworthy question.**

**To TheInuyashaKaidanWriter, VFSNAKE, emodinosaurX3, SesshomaruLover4evr, TanziToCool, horseluver15, and Kasuchi, Koichi: I appreicate your continued support of my writing from chappie one up until now and I thought it was about time you were publically recognised for your dedicated reading and reviewing! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!**

**(Those in blue are verified writers that all have their own stories that yall should go check out if you get a chance!)**

**That's it for now! I'm gonna go work on chappie 21 for "A Demon's Heart" but I'll try to get up chappie 8 for this story ASAP! Thanks yall!**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!! ^.^**


	8. The Nefarious Plot

**a/n: Hey yall! I'm super sorry that I took so long to update but I've been busy with moving and college stuff so I haven't had a chance to get online for more than like 15 minutes in a long time... Anyways, here's chappy 8 that is kinda long and super action packed as a reward for waiting so long for me to review... ON TO THE CHAPPY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inu cuz they wouldn't let me have him cuz I took forever to update... *SOB!!!***

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Chapter 8- The Nefarious Plot

**-------Two weeks later at the Slayer's Village-------**

During the last two weeks Inuyasha and Sango had rebuilt five huts and fixed the three huts that were left standing after Inuyasha's demolition. The construction was coming along nicely and soon the village would be complete. The two warriors, however, have come a long way in their emotional status towards the other. Both now had definite romantic feelings for the other but neither wanted to admit it; afraid that they would get hurt again or that the other wouldn't return their feelings.

They both knew that this state of denial and fear could not last forever and sooner or later something major was going to happen to _truly_ awaken their quickly growing feelings. It was just a matter of time.

**-------Two weeks later at Kaede's village-------**

Emerging from the dankness of the old Bone Eaters Well Kagome threw her big yellow bag that contained all of her modern day bath accessories and a few school textbooks over the edge of the well and onto the lush green grass. She'd spent the last two weeks in her time studying and taking finals before summer break started. The few textbooks in her yellow bag were to study for the few tests she'd have to take over the summer since she'd missed so much school.

Of course, studying had been much more interesting with her new study partner and boyfriend, Hojo. She had not told Hojo of her journeys to the Feudal Era and since she was planning to be in the Feudal Era for a while she told him that she was going out of town to visit relatives. He happily smiled and wished her a good trip before they had a hot and heavy make out session in her room before he went home. She was very content with her relationship with Hojo in the future but that didn't mean that she was going to give up on her relationship with Inuyasha in the past.

'_I'm going to be going back and forth to both times so whenever Inuyasha makes me mad I can go to the future and call Hojo and forget all about Inuyasha's stupid little arguments until the next time I come to the past. I'll even seal the well so that he can't find out about Hojo. It's perfect!'_ Kagome thought as she shouldered her bag and headed towards Kaede's village scanning the trees for the familiar sight of the red fire rat hoari, as she was sure Inuyasha would have been eagerly awaiting her return.

When she made it all the way to Kaede's hut without Inuyasha jumping out and yelling at her for staying in the present so long she began to wonder what was up. She entered the hut and found that no one was around so she dropped her bag and looked around. Where was everyone? Even Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were gone; the latter two not having even a trace of their belongings in the small hut. A small stack of sacred sutras and the extra robe Miroku had gotten from Mushin a few months ago could be seen in one of the corners as an indication that the monk was still around the village but Sango's usual blue cloth she wore around her neck while traveling was nowhere to be seen and neither was any of her numerous weapons.

'_I guess Sango left while I was away,'_ Kagome thought as she looked around the hut for any signs of Inuyasha, _'Inuyasha doesn't really leave anything around to show that he was here anyway so I guess I'll have to ask Kaede when she comes back.'_

She was about to sit down and wait for Kaede when she noticed a small letter folded up and halfway tucked beneath Kaede's futon. Deciding that she could read the letter and return it to its' former position before Kaede returned she quickly snatched it from it's hiding place, opened it, and began to read the neat handwriting.

_**Dear Kaede,**_

_**I'm sorry that I left the village without telling you but as you must know by now the monk and I are no longer together. Do not worry, I have merely returned to my village and plan to rebuild and return it to its' former glory. I'm sure you're worried about Inuyasha as well since he's been gone for just as long as I have but there's no need to worry, he's here with me, helping rebuild my village and slay demons when our services are required. We miss you Kaede. Even Inuyasha, though he may not admit it. I hope you are doing well and soon you may even be able to visit us since we have most of the village rebuilt already due to Inuyasha's help and hard work. I will send you another letter as soon as I am able to let you know how we are doing but now I must go. If Miroku or Kagome asks where we are please do not tell them. Inuyasha and I have a good life now and we do not need a lecherous monk or a whoring priestess to try to hurt us again. Thank you for everything you've done for us and I hope to see you soon.**_

_**Yours truly, Sango**_

By the time Kagome finished reading the letter her fists were clenched angrily, causing the paper to wrinkle and tear, and her aura was flaring wildly.

"How DARE she!" Kagome hissed angrily, "She thinks that she can take Inuyasha away from me? Ha! That ugly excuse of a woman thinks that she can take any man from me? Oh I don't think so bitch."

With that Kagome grabbed her bow and arrows that she'd left in the corner of the hut when she'd left to go to her time and dumped the textbooks out of her bag before slinging it over her shoulder and storming out of the hut. Kaede returned just in time to see the priestess storm out of the village and entered her hut to find Sango's letter ripped and wadded up on the floor.

"Oh dear. This speaks of great trouble for ye Sango," Kaede said to herself as she eyed the letter and looked back towards the last place she'd seen Kagome wearily.

After a few hours of traveling towards the mountains with her priestess aura flaring wildly Kagome grinned wickedly as she saw the familiar tornado that always preceded Kouga's arrival. She knew that she could not take on Sango alone so she planned on enlisting Kouga's help by telling him that Sango had tried to kill her because of her problems with the monk. She knew that the gullible wolf demon who'd proclaimed his love for her numerous times would surely help get rid of the woman that had "tried to kill her."

"Kagome! What is my lovely future mate doing all the way out here by herself?" Kouga asked as he appeared in front of her and grabbed her hands in his as he always did.

Kagome easily adopted the damsel in distress voice and began to weep into Kouga's shoulder.

"K-K-Kouga… I-I didn't know what to d-do," she cried as she looked up to see if he'd taken the bait; the poor wolf had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, "I-Inuyasha ran off with S-Sango after she…she…"

"What? What did the slayer do to you Kagome?"

"She… She tried to k-kill me!" Kagome wept as she allowed her knees to buckle beneath her.

"WHAT?! How dare that stupid slayer try to kill you! Where is she Kagome? Where did she go so that I can make sure she never tries to hurt you again?!"

Kagome merely smiled evilly into his shoulder before donning a shocked expression and looking up at him.

"No Kouga. I couldn't possibly. I mean I was able to get away with her only cutting my arm so I don't think-" she was cut off by Kouga's indignant yell.

"She actually hurt you?! Tell me Kagome! Tell me where she is now!"

"Sh-She went to the slayer's village with Inuyasha. B-But you'll never be able to get to her since she's strong and he-he's protecting her as well," Kagome said as she looked at him fearfully, "I d-don't want you to get h-hurt because of me."

"Well don't you worry Kagome. Leave everything to me. I'll carry you and we can get to the slayer's village just before dark when the slayer will probably go look for wood for a fire," Kouga said before he scooped her up and ran towards the direction of the slayer's village.

'_Yes!'_ Kagome thought from her comfortable position in Kouga's arms, _'He fell for it just like I knew he would and soon he'll get that bitch Sango out of the way for me and Inuyasha will be all mine again. I may even have to reward Kouga for being such a good boy and protecting me.'_

Just before dark Sango and Inuyasha did their normal routine for dinner. He'd go out and hunt down a deer or wild hog for supper while she went out and gathered wood for the fire. Lately they'd both been having to travel a little further in search of their designated items and it was usually an hour before both returned to the village and cooked supper.

Inuyasha had told her before he left that he'd been having a bad feeling all evening and that she needed to be sure to take Hiraikotsu with her when she went and searched for wood. She knew to trust Inuyasha's instincts and had grabbed not only her Hiraikotsu but also her katana as well before heading out in search of firewood.

As soon as she left the village she got the same bad feeling Inuyasha had told her about but quickly walked down the path until she reached an area she was sure held many fallen branches before heading off of the path and into the woods. The demonic aura grew even stronger and more oppressing as she entered the woods and her instincts were on high alert even as she forced her body to appear calm and relaxed.

She had gathered all of the wood they'd need for a fire and was about to head back towards the path when the demon finally struck. A dark brown blur flew out from the trees to her left and she barely had time to drop the wood and shift Hiraikotsu into a blocking position before the sharp edge of a katana blade struck the area that her neck was. Sango swiftly thrust Hiraikotsu forward, twisting so that the strap was no longer around her, and swung and the demon that had attacked her so swiftly that she was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle it alone in her kimono.

She was completely surprised, however, to see that the demon that had attacked her was none other than Kouga, the wolf demon prince she'd seen so many times when he'd come to the group trying to court Kagome. Before she could ask him why he was attacking her, however, he flew forward again and, in a flurry of slashes and swift kicks, set her off balance. As soon as he saw an opening the wolf quickly kicked her Hiraikotsu away and slashed her across the chest harshly with his katana. She let out a scream of pain but managed to stay on her feet and draw her own katana to block the next set of blows.

Her mind was furiously trying to figure out why the wolf prince was attacking her but was unable to come up with an answer until Kouga struck her again, this time on her left shoulder, and knocked her to the ground. From her position on the ground she could see the faint outline of Kagome hiding behind a tree a few yards behind where they were battling.

'Kagome did this?! That stupid whore thinks that killing me will make Inuyasha return to her?' Sango thought angrily as she tried to get up, intent on kicking the priestess' ass.

"I don't think so slayer!" Kouga yelled as he saw her gaze, smelt her killing intent, and kicked her violently in the ribs for thinking about harming his "future mate."

Sango's eyes were wide open as she cried out in pain and began to cough up blood violently. She could barely see Kouga out of the corner of her tear filled eye but she used every ounce of energy she had left in her to roll her body out of the way of his katana strike and stumble to her feet a few yards away.

"You're stronger than I gave you credit for slayer but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you live after you threatened to kill my Kagome," Kouga said dangerously as he narrowed his eyes at her, "As a slayer you should have known what would happen if you threatened the mate or future mate of a demon."

With that said he flew forward and sliced into her right arm deeply yelling that "that is payback for what you did to Kagome!" She was sure now that Kagome had tricked Kouga into believing that she had tried to kill her and as a slayer she knew exactly what that entailed. She would not leave this forest alive unless she killed Kouga and there was no way she could do that in her current condition.

She valiantly tried to block his strikes with her katana but her injuries were slowing her and she knew that she would loose consciousness due to blood loss soon. With that knowledge came the fact that as soon as she lost consciousness she'd be done for and so she pushed her body to stay moving and awake. She couldn't, however, keep up with Kouga's speed for very long with her many injuries and the swift kick to the stomach that she hadn't been able to avoid sent her flying backwards and into a tree.

"I…Inu…yasha…" she muttered as she coughed up more blood and slid down the tree slightly leaving a bloody stain where she'd hit.

Kouga was already in front of her with his katana raised, ready to bring it down on her already blood soaked form. Sango looked up and him through slightly blurry eyes and glared at him with every last ounce of loathing she had left in her; if he was going to kill her he was going to do so while looking her dead in the eyes. She was no coward so she watched as his blade descended upon her and prepared her body for the impact, but it never came.

Suddenly a blur of red and silver flew past her and Kouga had to redirect his katana to block Inuyasha's Tetsaiga from chopping him in half. The half demon looked back and Sango worriedly before sending a look of pure hatred and rage at the wolf demon who'd done this to her for no reason at all.

"You son of a bitch! How dare you attack Sango when she's never done anything to you!" Inuyasha yelled angrily as he moved to position himself between the only person he had left and the bastard wolf that was trying to take her from him.

He did not even acknowledge Kagome standing just inside the clearing that Sango had been fighting in until Kouga angrily yelled back the whole reason he'd attacked Sango in the first place.

"Butt out mutt face! That bitch attacked and tried to kill my Kagome! You know very well what a demon does when someone attacks their intended mate!"

Inuyasha's rage grew even more but was no longer solely directed at the mangy wolf. His piercing golden eyes flew to Kagome and narrowed angrily. The priestess herself had never seen such a fierce and enraged look in his molten eyes and it truly scared her; so she did the only thing she knew how to do when Inuyasha did something to displease her.

"SIT BOY!"

The necklace glowed with the power of her fear and sent him plummeting to the ground despite the strength of his anger and resistance.

"SIT BOY, SIT BOY, SIT BOY!" she yelled as Inuyasha continued to be pulled into the ground.

"SI—" She was cut off by the harsh blow to her face that seemed to come out of nowhere and knocked her backwards.

Kouga's head flew in the direction of Kagome to see that the slayer had somehow managed to move from her position behind Inuyasha over to Kagome without his noticing and had viciously slammed her bloody fist into the priestess' face to prevent her from sitting Inuyasha again. He growled angrily and moved to strike the slayer once more but Inuyasha had recovered already due to the strength his rage provided and was in front of Kouga before he could hit Sango again.

"Thank you Sango but you need to rest. If you don't stay still you're going to bleed more," Inuyasha said to the woman behind him as he glared heatedly at the wolf demon.

"Sorry…Inuyasha….B-but I don't plan on leaving that bitch with just one… punch…" she coughed out before wiping away the blood that was left on her mouth and turning towards the girl who was still clutching the place on her face that she'd hit before.

Inuyasha merely sent her a worried glance before turning and pointing Tetsaiga's fully transformed blade at Kouga. He badly wanted to kill the wolf for trying to kill the last person who cared about him but he knew that it wasn't fully his fault and that he'd never have done it if Kagome hadn't tricked him.

"You really are stupider than I thought you mangy wolf! Sango hasn't seen Kagome in over three weeks because she's been in her time kissing all over some human kid!" Inuyasha said angrily at Kouga and had to block with Tetsaiga as the wolf slashed at him with his blood-covered katana.

"That's a lie! Kagome would never cheat on me with some pathetic human kid!" Kouga yelled angrily as he and Inuyasha danced around the clearing exchanging harsh blows.

"Have you even checked her scent? He's all over her! Even I can smell it from over here! Are your wolf demon senses that weak you mangy bastard?" Inuyasha yelled as he slammed his fist into Kouga's stomach viciously.

~~~~~~~~~~~**With Sango**~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sango was pulling every bit of her reserve strength from years of training just to stay on her feet. She'd been waiting for three weeks to get a hold of the woman who'd so carelessly broken Inuyasha's heart and there was no way that she was going to allow her to get away without breaking at least one more of her bones other than the jaw she'd already cracked.

She smirked at the glare the priestess was sending her. Obviously it hurt to talk or else she'd probably be cursing up a storm right now. Good. That was her intention after all. It would teach her not to "sit" Inuyasha anymore; or at least until she could ask Kaede to remove it.

"Hurts doesn't it bitch?" Sango asked as she forced her body to straiten and she took a step towards her, "Well you haven't seen anything yet. You'd better be damn glad that you had your little wolf boy beat me up a good bit before I could get to you or I would have done much worse than what I'm going to do."

Pushing her body forward she once again began to slam her fist into the priestess' face. The weak girl simply screamed and fell backwards as Sango's bloody form landed on top of her and began to mercilessly pummel her into the dirt. Sango smiled grimly as she felt numerous bones brake beneath the force of her powerful fists. She just wished that her body wasn't so weak from blood loss or her hits would have been more effective.

Her vicious beating only lasted a few moments before Kouga materialized beside her and threw her backwards forcefully. Her body flew and she half expected to collide with a tree but was instead caught gently by Inuyasha whose strong arms wrapped around her exhausted and bleeding body protectively.

"Sango! Are you ok?" Inuyasha asked worriedly as he eyed the many wounds that were still bleeding heavily.

Her eyes began to go out of focus as she finally allowed her body to loose consciousness; Inuyasha had her, she knew she was safe now. However, as her mind slipped into darkness and her eyes drifted shut she was sure she could hear Inuyasha frantically yelling her name in a tone that she'd never heard before.

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**a/n: hehe... I bet yall hate me now for ending on a cliffie... ^-^! Well I'm sorry but I just couldn't help myself since I haven't ended on a cliffy in forever!... Anyways, I promise that I won't take so long to update this time if yall review like you awesome reviewers do! **

**READ AND REVIEW PLZ!!!**


	9. Healing and Freedom

**a/n: Hey yall! I promised I'd update faster and it would've been up yesterday but my internet went down cuz of a big storm and I just came to my dad's house in another town so I could get online. ^-^ Got alot of reviews for last chappy and I'm super glad yall are still with me even after such a long wait. I plan on gettin the next chapter written and posted within the next few days so bare with me. I promise not to leave yall hanging for a month again... Anyways, ON TO THE CHAPPY!!!**

**DISCLAIMER: I.... do not own... Inuyasha... YET... MUAHAHAHAHAH! **

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Chapter 9- Healing and Freedom

Inuyasha was literally flying through the trees on the way to Kaede's village with Sango's bloody and unconscious form draped across his arms. After she'd fallen unconscious Inuyasha had looked up to see Kouga scooping Kagome's beaten and bruised form into his arms and, yelling that "this isn't over", he fled the clearing that the battle had taken place in. Kirara had arrived shortly after Kouga left and mewed worriedly at her mistress' ragged form. It had taken Inuyasha a few minutes to convince the fire cat that she needed to stay and guard the village while he took Sango to Kaede's for medical attention.

His mind flew back to the present as he neared the village and Kaede's hut came into sight. It was now dawn. The trip that was usually two days had taken him only one night at the amazing speed that he was traveling. He was deathly afraid that he was going to loose her and, despite his current exhaustion caused from a hard days work and then a full night's frantic run, his nerves were still as high strung as they had been before exhaustion set in.

Coming to a screeching halt in front of Kaede's hut, Inuyasha paused only long enough to smell that Kaede was the only one in the hut before he entered. The old priestess looked like she'd just woken a few moments earlier and was still in her sleeping yakuta with her hair down.

"Inuyasha? Was has happened child?" Kaede said as he lay Sango down on the futon beside the embers of last night's fire.

"Kagome convinced Kouga that Sango tried to kill her," Inuyasha said as he worriedly watched Kaede grab some bandages and healing herbs.

He needed to give no further explanation. Kaede knew full well what happens when someone threatens a demons intended mate. She wanted to ask what became of Kagome and Kouga but decided that such questions could wait until after Sango's wounds were treated.

"She has lost a lot of blood Inuyasha. I am sure she will survive but I need ye to wait outside until I have finished bandaging her wounds," Kaede said and waited until Inuyasha was nearly out the door before speaking again, "The monk is still in the village Inuyasha."

Just as she understood the workings of demon custom, Inuyasha needed no further words to understand what Kaede meant. She knew that the monk had greatly hurt Sango and she did not want him to try to see her while she was unable to deny his presence.

'_Oh that's not going to be a problem,'_ Inuyasha thought as he nodded and exited the hut to take up residence on the roof above, _'If that bastard monk tries to come anywhere near Sango I'll hit him so hard his great grandchildren will feel it.'_

From his position on the roof Inuyasha was able to hear everything that was going on in the hut beneath him. He listened intently to every pain filled groan and gasping intake of breath Sango emitted while Kaede administered to her. He sighed in relief when the smell of her blood flowing out of her freely ceased as Kaede finished wrapping her wounds in bandages.

Finally allowing his muscles to relax knowing that Sango was now safe he thought back to the sight of Kagome's face after Sango had been thrown off her. He smiled in grim satisfaction at the image of her usually flawless skin covered in hideous black and purple bruises and her lips bleeding profusely. He had heard the loud crack of Kagome's jaw breaking as Sango punched her viciously in the face despite his body being pushed into the ground by Kagome's "sits". It was only because of Sango that he was able to get up off of the ground and fight.

"_**K-Kaede?" **(a/n: It's bolded cuz he's hearing it through the roof of the hut. ^-^)_

The quiet voice from the hut below him broke into his thoughts and immediately brought his attention back to the women below.

"_**Sango? Ye have already awakened? I did not expect ye to regain consciousness until later this afternoon."**_

The kind voice that was obviously Kaede's was filled with shock.

**_"I-I'm ok Kaede. I was just worried about Inuyasha since I passed out in his arms while Kouga was still able to fight. I-is he ok?"_**

Sango was worried about him?! Even though she was the one who was bloody and badly beaten she was worrying about him.

_**"Inuyasha is fine child. Ye should worry about yourself instead. Inuyasha was very worried that ye would not make it when he brought you."**_

He blushed deeply at Kaede's comment but could not bring himself to stop listening.

"_**K-Kaede it is very important that I talk to you about something. It could v-very well mean life and death for Inuyasha in later battles."**_

His ears flicked forward at the mention of his well-being and he wondered what Sango could possibly be talking about.

"_**Very well child. What is it you need to speak with me about?"**_

_**"In the battle yesterday Inuyasha s-saved me from Kouga only to have Kagome "sit" him numerous times. Kagome uses the subjugation beads as a way to make Inuyasha do whatever she wants him to. S-she no longer uses them for a valid purpose and hasn't for quite some time."**_

At this Sango paused and Inuyasha heard her sigh sadly only to cough up more blood from her damaged lungs.

_**"I-I don't want Inuyasha to get hurt because of me Kaede. He was trying to protect me and got "sat" for it. If I h-hadn't been able to stop Kagome from sitting him I'm sure Kouga would have hurt, if not killed him. I just ask that y-you remove the power of the beads Kaede. T-That's all I ask for."**_

Inuyasha was shocked beyond words. After two years of traveling with Kagome never once had she offered to have the beads removed and now, after only two and a half weeks, Sango was asking Kaede personally to remove the spell.

"_**I see. Do ye wish for me to transfer the spells power to ye instead?"**_

Kaede's question froze his jumbled thoughts and he held his breath as he awaited Sango's response.

"_**N-no Kaede. I do not wish to take away Inuyasha's freedom. I trust him with my l-life and I have no need for such a cruel collar to control him with. I-If Inuyasha decides for any reason that he wants to k-kill me after all this time then he can do so, as I'm sure he would have a g-good reason for it."**_

Sango's words struck him straight in the heart. All this time he'd been fussing over Kagome or Kikyo when the one woman who truly cared for him had been in front of him all along. She'd even welcome death by his hand if she thought she'd wronged him.

It was then that the love that had been building between the two for the last two weeks finally blossomed. His true feelings for the beautiful slayer who'd always accepted him came into the light and he knew that he had to tell her.

"_**As you wish Sango. I am glad that Inuyasha has finally found someone who truly cares for him the way he deserves to be cared for. I shall remove the beads enchantment whenever he returns."**_

"_**T-Thank you K-Kaede."**_

From above Inuyasha could tell that Sango had barely been able to finish her last statement before bursting into another round of bloody coughs. When the coughing did not cease after a moment he leapt from the roof and threw away the door flap as he burst into the hut.

"What's going on Kaede? Is she ok?"

The amount of blood that was now on the floor beneath Sango's head was frightening. How badly had Kouga truly injured her if she was still so violently coughing up blood? Kaede shot him a worried look but continued to mix a few herbs in a small bowl and then crush them into powder. After adding water to the powder she then handing the bowl to Sango who was no longer coughing but her breath was still very ragged.

"Swallow that child and then sleep. You need the rest. When you awaken what you have requested shall have been done," Kaede said to Sango who did as she was told and swallowed the disgusting mixture.

Inuyasha watched her worriedly as she lay down and was asleep almost instantly. That was another sign something was terribly wrong. Sango had always been a light sleeper, even when injured, and it usually took them several minutes to persuade her to sleep after she lay down. He watched her sleeping form for a moment before turning to Kaede and not even getting to ask a question before she began to speak.

"She has experienced massive internal damage for her to still be coughing up so much blood. When I bandaged her wounds I found that almost all of the ribs on her right side were broken and a massive bruise had formed in the general shape of a foot. I found similar bruising along her stomach and there is no doubt now that Kouga kicked her in twice very viciously."

At this Inuyasha began to growl. He hadn't tried to kill Kouga when he attacked Sango because he knew that Kagome had coerced him into it, but now that he saw how ruthlessly he had attacked her Inuyasha didn't care that Kagome convinced him to do it; he was going to kill that bastard wolf the next time he saw him.

"Ye can take her back to the slayer's village in a few days Inuyasha but she will be in no condition to fight or rebuild the village. Until then I will continue to give her healing herbs that help her body repair itself. That is all that I can do," Kaede said as she stood, "I must go find more of the herbs Inuyasha. I need ye to stay here with her until I return."

Inuyasha merely nodded and turned back to watching Sango as Kaede left the hut. Beneath her kimono Inuyasha could see the thick bandages that Kaede had tied around her chest, stomach, arms, and even a thin bandage on her cheek where a long cut had been left. His golden eyes scanned her broken form and guilt shot through him at the sight of the many bandages.

_'I promised her I would protect her and look what's happened. I shouldn't have let her go out to search for wood alone. I knew I had a bad feeling and I should have listened to my instincts. Damn it!'_

Suddenly his left ear twitched and he immediately stood and flew out of the hut. His body slammed into the purple and black clad figure of the monk and sent them both hurtling towards the ground. Inuyasha quickly recovered and jumped off the monk to position himself in front of the hut's door, blocking entry to the monk who'd been about to enter.

"I-Inuyasha? What are you doing here and why are you blocking the entrance to Kaede's hut?" Miroku asked, still slightly dazed from the sudden impact with both Inuyasha's body and the ground.

"That's none of your business monk. I suggest you leave because I'm not letting you into this hut," Inuyasha said icily, his voice sounding frighteningly similar to his brother's.

"What? Why? What's the big deal Inuyasha? You don't own Kaede's hut and I've been living here for the last three weeks that you and Sa—" he paused mid sentence as it dawned on him why Inuyasha wouldn't let him into the hut.

Inuyasha growled but made no move to do anything. He knew Miroku wasn't _that_ stupid and it wasn't that hard to figure out why he wouldn't allow him to enter. It didn't matter though, he was not allowing the monk anywhere near Sango whether she was conscious or not.

"She's in there isn't she Inuyasha? Let me see her! You have no right to keep me from seeing my fiancé!"

"She's not your fiancé anymore monk! She told me what you did to her and that she never wanted to see you again! I plan on making that wish a reality; now beat it," Inuyasha yelled angrily.

The image of Kagome's bloodied face entered his mind as Sango's promise to "brake every bone in her face" because of what she'd done to him echoed through his consciousness. He smiled a small, grim smile and clenched his fists.

'_Just because I didn't say it out loud Sango, doesn't mean that I won't beat the crap out of the monk for what he did to you,' _Inuyasha thought as he watched the monk grab his staff as he always did just before battle.

Inuyasha smiled menacingly and glared at the monk with blazing pools of liquid gold. So the monk actually thought that he could win in a fight against him? Oh how very foolish. He wouldn't kill the stupid bastard but he needed an outlet to vent his anger and frustration and the monk had just offered himself willingly.

Before Miroku could even take a step forward Inuyasha used his demonic speed to appear right in front of him and slammed his fist violently into his shocked face. The monk was sent flying backwards from the force of the impact but somehow managed to stay on his feet with the aid of his staff. Inuyasha didn't stop there, however. He continued his assault by raking his sharp claws through the soft flesh of the monk's right arm causing him to drop his staff.

Miroku fell backwards clutching his bloody arm in pain but before he hit the ground Inuyasha kicked him squarely in the chest and sent his body reeling backwards into a tree opposite the hut entrance.

Miroku was barely conscious as he watched the blurry figure of Inuyasha approaching him but he was able to hear Inuyasha's growled warning just before the darkness overtook him.

"I didn't kill you this time monk but if you try to come near Sango again then I won't hesitate to end your worthless life."

With that said Inuyasha stood and whipped the blood from his claws onto his red pants. He'd wash it off later but now he needed to return to Sango. He turned and made his way back into the hut, leaving the monk lying unconscious against the tree. When he entered he found Sango sleeping just as he'd left her.

'_That'll teach that monk to try to mess with__** my **__Sango,'_ Inuyasha thought possessively as sat against the wall beside the door with Tetsaiga between his bent knees.

With nothing else to do but stare at his newfound love's unconscious form his thoughts ran back to how she'd gotten into this state. He had been nearly an hour away when he felt her aura flare wildly and clash with Kouga's demonic aura. Fear flashed through him as the scent of her blood caught the wind and traveled to him. Immediately he'd dropped the deer he'd killed and sped towards her scent. He had reached speeds worthy of Sesshomaru himself as he caught the scent of her massive loss of blood and felt her aura drop dangerously low. He had heard her whisper his name just before he'd rounded the tree and knocked Kouga away from her with Tetsaiga.

'_I made an hour trip in fifteen minutes,'_ Inuyasha thought incredulously, _'I've never moved that fast before in my entire life. I guess Sango really is the one.'_

Just then Kaede returned with a basket full of herbs for Sango's injuries. Setting them down in the corner she turned and approached Inuyasha's seated form.

"Come here child. Sango has requested I remove thy beads and I shall do so now," Kaede said as she sat on the ground near Sango.

Inuyasha wordlessly stood and made his way over to the old priestess. Squatting down in front of her he watched intently as she folded her hands into a praying position and began to chant. The necklace glowed a brilliant cobalt blue before dimming and returning to it's normal state. He immediately tried to take it off but the necklace glowed and refused to be removed just as it had before.

"What's the big deal you old hag?! I thought you were gonna remove the spell!" Inuyasha yelled loudly as he continued to tug at the necklace.

"Aye Inuyasha, that is what Sango requested. However, I could not completely nullify the spell's power on such short notice so I transferred the subjugation power to her."

"What the hell?! I thought I was finally gonna be free of this stupid thi—"

His rant was cut short by the slender hand that reached up and grabbed hold of the necklace, causing it to glow a bright white. He looked down to see that Sango had awoken and, hearing their conversation and his angry yells, had grabbed on to the offending object with the arm that wasn't injured.

"Inuyasha…Sit."

At the sound of the word Inuyasha immediately flinched and prepared himself to be slammed into the ground. After a moment of stillness he realized that nothing had happened and the subjugation beads had finally lost their power. Happy golden eyes flew to exhausted brown and the two gazes stayed locked for a few moments before Inuyasha bent and scooped her weary form into a careful hug. Knowing that the two needed to be alone Kaede graciously stood and left the hut to tend to the stupid monk who was still lying unconscious outside.

"Inuyasha…"

"Thank you Sango. You have done more for me than you'll ever know. I finally have back my freedom," Inuyasha said with one hand gently cradling her head against his shoulder.

Sango was silent for a moment and Inuyasha took the opportunity to breath in her scent. Beneath the blood and injury he could smell the soft scent of lilies and honey; there was also the subtle scent of wax and oil she used to maintain her weapons with, and for some reason it seemed to relax him more than anything Kagome had ever sprayed on herself to try to attract him.

"W-will you leave now Inuyasha?"

The quiet question halted his scenting and shocked him slightly.

"What? No Sango. Why would you think that?"

"I-It's just that you're free now and you have n-no reason to stay with me. I un-understand if you want to leave."

He realized how it must have sounded to her; him gruffly exclaiming his newfound freedom. It was not that shocking, knowing that Sango truly feared being alone, that she would assume he'd leave her the first chance he got. She was very insecure and self-conscious, likely assuming that she'd done something wrong to chase him away.

"I do have a reason to stay with you Sango," he said softly as he allowed her to move her head back and look into his eyes, "You. I love you Sango and I will never leave you alone."

Leaning forward he gently captured her lips in a soft kiss that spoke volumes more than any words either could have said. He was afraid for a moment that she didn't feel the same way until she responded to his kiss and pressed her lips further against his. After a few moments he pulled away with both breathing slightly harder than usual.

"I love you too Inuyasha. I was just afraid you didn't feel the same because it happened so fast," Sango said as she looked up at the handsome man that was holding her carefully in his arms.

"I know Sango but I've never felt this way about anyone before; not even Kagome or Kikyo. This fierce protectiveness and power I feel can only mean that my inner demon has finally chosen its mate."

Sango chuckled lightly and gazed up at his dog-ears a moment before dropping her eyes back down to his.

"So I guess that's your way of asking me to be your mate then Inuyasha?"

He paused for a moment before smirking slightly, revealing one of his shinning fangs.

"Ya I guess so Sango. So what'll it be?"

Sango smiled genuinely and looked into his eyes to see the love that radiated from them. The golden depths seemed to hypnotize her and she knew that she could loose herself in them forever.

"I guess I should say yes then Inuyasha."

He smiled at their playful banter but drew her in for another kiss. Electricity seemed to spark through their veins as their lips met for only the second time. They broke apart and Inuyasha rested his forehead against hers so that they could stare deeply into each other's eyes.

The romantic moment was broken however, when Inuyasha's ears twitched and he suddenly jerked back and scooped her into his arms just as the hut exploded around them. Sango bit back a scream as she buried her head into Inuyasha hoari top and clenched her eyes shut as the hut's wood rained down upon them. They snapped open worriedly only moments later when a harsh yell sounded throughout the clearing and sent a chill through her mind.

"Give it up mutt face! Hand over the wench and I'll let you live. She must die for what she's done to my precious Kagome! If you try to protect her I'll simply kill you first before I deal with her."

A deep, rumbling growl echoed throughout Inuyasha's chest causing Sango to look up at him from her position in his arms. Rage. Pure, unadulterated rage was all that could be seen on his handsome face. The eyes that had only moments ago been so full of love were now overflowing with hatred and anger towards the wolf that had injured her so badly. Her eyes widened as a snarl ripped from his throat and his hold on her body tightened slightly.

"You just signed your own death warrant wolf!"

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**a/n: Oh dang... He's pissed. Yall requested some Inuyasha action; well get saddled up and ready cuz next time's gonna be just what yall are lookin for. ^.^ I know, I know, another cliffie but I just can't help myself sometimes. If it was boring you wouldn't read it; I know I wouldn't. ^-^ hehe... But anyways, yall know what to do...**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW MY AWESOME REVIEWERS!!!**


	10. The Battle of Mates

**a/n: Hey yall! Sorry that it took a little bit longer than expected for the big battle chapter to get posted but I've been out of town and I'm about to go visit a college tomorrow so I thought I'd get it up tonight. I hereby warn all Kagome or Kouga lovers that you probly won't like this chapter and should probably just wait until the next time I update to read. Then again, most Kagome lovers have probably long since quit reading this but oh well. You have been warned.... ON TO THE CHAPPY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Inuyasha's characters or peoples but I do own the kick A-ness of this story so ha! You can't own it cuz it's mine! (-,- *NAH!*)**

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Chapter 10- The Battle of Mates

Despite the feeling of complete and utter protection she felt from being wrapped in Inuyasha's arms Sango was completely terrified. She knew her new love and soon to be mate was strong but she was injured and knew she would not be able to provide much help to him were he to need her. The thought that scared her the most though was that he would get hurt trying to protect her because she was to weak to protect herself.

"Oh ya mutt face? I'd like to see you try to fight with that pathetic bitch lying helpless in your arms."

Kouga's yell sent a chill straight through her and her eyes widened even more in fear. He knew that Inuyasha would try to protect her and he was going to take full advantage of that. She looked up at Inuyasha's golden eyes to see them gaining a slightly red tint along the edges.

"If you try to lay one finger on her I swear I'll rip your arm off you filthy wolf," Inuyasha snarled back as he pulled Sango closer to his chest.

Sango smiled at his snarled threat and tried to quell the rising fear that seemed to be trying to suffocate her. She suddenly began to cough violently again, causing blood to come from her mouth a drip down her chin.

"Sango!" Inuyasha breathed worriedly as he glanced down at her coughing form.

"Hahaha! Good. So I really did hurt the bitch after all," Kouga yelled from across the clearing in front of Kaede's now demolished hut.

Another snarl ripped from Inuyasha's throat and he had to restrain himself from viciously attacking the bastard wolf. His eyes flew around the clearing as he searched for a safe place to lay Sango while he battled Kouga. He didn't want her to somehow get caught up in the battle or for Kouga to easily be able to get at her.

"I-Inuyasha… Take me t-to Kaede. I'll be ok," Sango wheezed out from his arms as she finally controlled her coughing.

He looked down at her and growled slightly at the blood flowing from the corner of her mouth but nodded and jumped over to the old woman who was worriedly watching the wolf after tending to the monk. Miroku, still completely unconscious, now had his arm wrapped and was sporting a nice purple bruise along his jaw. Inuyasha hesitated to leave Sango so close to the monk but knew he had no choice as he lay her down beside Kaede and jumped towards Kouga before the wolf decided to come to him.

Inuyasha wasted no more time talking. The image of Sango's bloody form ran through his mind as he drew Tetsaiga and flew towards Kouga with an enraged growl. He swung the large, furry-ended fang diagonally at the wolf that just barely was able to draw his sword and block the strike. He didn't hesitate for an instant, but instead continued on with a flurry of powerful, rage-filled strikes that Kouga was slowly falling before. The two crossed blades and growled in each other's faces for a moment.

"Why are you fighting for that human dog boy?! She's not worth it," Kouga hissed.

"I fight for Sango because she's the only woman who's ever truly cared for me. I love her and as soon as I kill you I'm going to make her my mate!"

With that said Inuyasha roared, threw Kouga backwards, and the dance of death began again.

Sango was watching the battle with intensely worried eyes. Kouga and Inuyasha had fought many times before over Kagome but never before had they been so serious or so intent on killing one another. She had grown to hate Kouga for all the torment he'd caused Inuyasha whenever he decided to show up and flaunt his feelings for Kagome. Even now she still hated him for what he was doing to Inuyasha. She was angry at him for attacking her without seeking both sides of the story but her hate for him was reserved fully for his attacks against Inuyasha.

She watched as the two crossed swords and seemed to talk for a moment before Inuyasha threw Kouga back and they began to fight again. She wanted so badly to join the fight and help her love but she knew that in her current state she'd only be a burden; plus, she doubted she could stand without coughing up blood. Something in the bushes, however, caught her attention and her eyes widened as an arrow flew out from within the bushes and she narrowly avoided it hitting her face. As the arrow flew by it deeply grazed her cheek causing her to cry out slightly in pain and her uninjured hand flew to her face.

Worriedly she watched as Kagome emerged from the bushes brandishing her bow and quiver. Obviously she'd been the one to shoot the arrow and the angry look on her battered face promised more was to come. Sango pushed aside her fear for her own life and donned a scowl at the woman who'd caused her future mate so much harm. She would not go down without a fight and she could feel the numerous hidden blades she'd previously placed were still inside her kimono.

Despite Kaede's protests she forced herself to stand and face the wrath of the black and blue priestess. Grabbing the blade in an inner pocket in her sleeve she positioned it so that she could use it readily but it still remained hidden. Her father had trained her to block arrows with just her hidden blades but it had been quite some time since she'd needed or used such training; now, however, might call for her to use it.

"You bitch," Kagome yelled angrily as she readied another arrow in her bow, "First you try to take Inuyasha from me and now look at what you've done to my beautiful face! I'll kill you for what you've done to me!"

She raised the bow and released the arrow without hesitation. There was about twenty-five feet between where the two women stood and as the arrow flew towards her Sango slid the blade out of her sleeve and called forth every memory that she had from her slayer training.

"Sango!"

Inuyasha's yell was desperate and she knew that even if he tried he could not place himself between her and the arrow in time. She breathed out a sigh of relief and concentration as she waited one last second before swiftly bringing up her blade and blocking the tip of the arrow with a loud clang of steel. She smirked menacingly at the surprised expression on Kagome's face and decided that this bitch had caused enough problems for her and Inuyasha. In a split second decision Sango changed the hold she had on the knife and expertly threw it towards Kagome's still form.

She heard Kouga yell out as she watched the evil priestess fall to the ground in a bloody heap with the knife sticking out of her chest. She felt his aura suddenly appear beside her and her eyes widened as she turned and saw his blade flying towards her face. She knew there was no way she could block it but she couldn't even close her eyes as she watched the gleaming silver blade come closer towards her. A blur of red once again appeared on the corner of her vision and she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her back slightly as Tetsaiga's large blade blocked Kouga's smaller one.

She allowed Inuyasha to clutch her tightly to him and jump away from Kouga's next swing that was once again aimed towards her. She could see the bloody color of his eyes and knew that in his current rage there was nothing they could do to reason with him. It was either kill or be killed and she knew Inuyasha had no intention of letting him kill her.

Kouga's enraged cussing grew more and more slurred and unintelligible, as he seemed to fall deeper into his transformation. He threw away his katana and now fought only with his claws and feet. She would have felt sorry for the pathetic creature were it not for the bloody wounds she could see on her love's left arm and right leg. He'd injured Inuyasha, injuries that had been given back three fold, but despite that she could not bring herself to forgive him for what he'd done.

Inuyasha continued to jump away and either block with Tetsaiga or avoid all of Kouga's attacks with her still held in his left arm. She could feel that he was beginning to tire due to her extra weight and she looked up at his face worriedly. He still wore a look of anger and rage but now there was a hint of worry in his eyes. He could not put her down because it was her that Kouga was attacking but he could not fight well with her in his arms.

Sango swept her mind for something she could do as Inuyasha jumped back from an attack from Kouga that blew apart the ground he'd hit with his claws. Suddenly she remembered her other hidden knives she still had stashed within her kimono. Maneuvering herself within Inuyasha's arms she pulled out three of her smaller hidden knives and readied them in her hands.

"Inuyasha you need to put me down. You can't fight him with me in your arms and I can handle anything that he manages to get past you," Sango yelled desperately as he blocked yet another of Kouga's full demonic attacks with his Tetsaiga and leapt away.

His golden eyes flashed down to her and she could see the fear within their depths. They flashed down to the knives within her hands and then to Kagome's now still form before returning back to her serious brown gaze and allowing her to see the resignation within them.

"Ok Sango but promise me that you'll stay out of the fight unless Kouga attacks you directly," Inuyasha asked and, after receiving a nod from her, jumping to a large tree of the far side of the clearing and placing her there before leaping back towards Kouga's frenzied form.

"Please be careful Inuyasha," Sango whispered as she watched him block a particularly strong kick from the now fully transformed wolf demon.

Her injuries were aching painfully and she could see that some of them had reopened and were bleeding through their bandages but she forced herself to ignore them and remain standing. She promised Inuyasha that she'd be able to protect herself if Kouga attacked her and she very well couldn't do that unconscious or sitting down.

Suddenly though, a quick maneuver from Kouga caught Inuyasha off guard and allowed him to rake his elongated claws viciously across his chest. Inuyasha fell back slightly but was kicked backwards by Kouga who quickly ignored him and ran towards her.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled, even as she threw the three knives she held at the approaching wolf demon.

Each projectile hit there mark but the wolf didn't even act as if he'd felt them at all but continued forward and grabbed her by the neck and sent her into the tree behind her. His long claws were digging bloody gashes into her neck and his tight grasp was quickly strangling what little air she had left out of her.

"Inu…ya…sha…" she barely rasped out as she weakly clawed at the strong hand that was rapidly squeezing the life out of her.

Her vision was starting to become blurry when the blood red eyes that were intently glaring hatred towards her suddenly widened and the hand's grip on her neck slackened as Kouga's limp body fell to the ground with Tetsaiga sticking out of his back.

Gasping in breaths she collapsed to the ground and was promptly pulled into Inuyasha's strong embrace.

"Sango! Sango! Speak to me please!" Inuyasha yelled worriedly to her limp form that was once again coughing up blood while trying desperately trying to suck in air.

After a moment she was finally able to control her coughing and regain her breath. She looked up at the man who was gently holding her in his arms and her eyes ran across the bloody claw marks that ran deeply across his chest.

"I-Inuyasha. Y-your chest," she said softly as she looked back up to his golden eyes that were now full of relief and slight pain.

"It's nothing Sango. I'll be fine. I just need to get you to Kaede so she can rebandage your wounds and check on your neck," he said as his beautiful golden eyes flew to the bloody wounds and already bruising skin on her neck, "I'm so sorry Sango. I didn't protect you well enough. I let him hurt you again."

The sadness in his voice nearly broke her heart as she allowed a small smile to grace her features.

"No Inuyasha. You saved me. Again. I love you and there's nothing anyone can do that will stop me from loving you," she said tenderly as she placed one hand gently against his cheek.

She watched as the guilt in his eyes left and was replaced by tenderness and love. Oh how she loved to watch his golden eyes become so gentle. To think that it was only her that could draw such gentle emotion from him.

"I love you too Sango. Now come on, let's get you to Kaede," Inuyasha said as he tried to lift her into his arms but she pushed off of him, "What the heck Sango? You are in no condition to walk across the clearing yourself!"

"I'll only let you take me to Kaede if you let her tend to your wounds as well. I would say have her tend to your wounds first but I know you'd never agree to that so I'll take what I can," Sango said stubbornly even as her body began to feel as though she was going to faint; she was going to win this argument before her body gave in whether Inuyasha liked it or not.

He merely studied her eyes a moment before his own golden orbs scanned her damaged body and he acquiesced to her demand.

"Ok Sango. Come on."

She merely smiled slightly and allowed him to gather her in his arms and, pulling Tetsaiga's now smaller form out of Kouga's body, heading back towards Kaede.

"I swear Sango. Sometimes I wonder if you care what happens to you at all," Inuyasha said as he wearily treaded across the battle scarred clearing leaving the bloody form of the fallen wolf where he lay.

Sango merely smiled wearily as she allowed her body to fall back into unconsciousness with one last whispered statement.

"I don't, my love. As long as you're ok."

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**a/n: Well... To those people who didn't want me to kill off Kouga I'm sorry. You all know that if the stupid wolf tried to kill Inuyasha's future mate that he'd kill him and that's just a simple fact. Personally I really do like Kouga but that's just how this story goes. Put yourself in Inuyasha's place and ask yourself what you'd do if somebody badly beat and tried to kill your girlfriend/boyfriend. Guys can understand this more cuz if anybody tries to hurt their girls they totally kick their ass(I know cuz my brother is WAY overprotective). Girls, just try to put yourself in Inu's place and see from a man's point of view. Again, I'm sorry all Kouga lovers but I'm not sorry for killing off Kagome cuz she's a manipulative skank and totally deserves it. ^-^...Anways, until next time.**

**Plz READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	11. The Raging River and Battle with Rapids

**a/n: Hey yall! Not a super duper long wait but still longer than I'd like. -.-' Anyways, sorry to keep yall waiting but I had to finish A Demon's Heart and I wrote another Sesshy/Sango oneshot just for fun tonight so I've been extremely productive if I do say so myself. ^-^ But enough with the chit chat, ON TO THE STORY! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha but apparently I'm the proad owner of numerous flames for this story. Yay for me! -.-'**

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Chapter 11- The Raging River and the Battle with the Rapids

~~~~~~~~~~A Week Later~~~~~~~~~~

Kaede had bandaged and healed the majority of Sango's wounds as well as giving her a few herbal remedies to help her body heal faster. She had now declared that Sango was well enough to return to the slayer village but she had to take it easy and not do any rebuilding or slaying for at least another week and a half. Of course Sango had jumped at the chance to return to her village but was none to happy to hear that she wouldn't be able to do much of anything for basically two weeks.

They'd been staying in another hut while Inuyasha and some of the other villagers rebuilt the one that Kouga had destroyed. Miroku, when he'd woken up, had apologized to Inuyasha and Sango before wishing them good luck in their relationship and leaving to head towards Mushin's temple. Inuyasha watched as Sango unemotionally accepted Miroku's apology, showing no sign that she'd ever felt anything towards the monk at all, but he knew that that night she'd cry into his chest and he would console her. And he did. That was four nights ago. Yesterday they'd helped move Kaede into her new hut, well Inuyasha did since he wouldn't let Sango do anything but carry a rolled up futon or two, and today they were heading back towards the slayer's village.

"Goodbye Kaede. Thank you for everything you've done for us and I'm sorry that we brought trouble to your village," Sango said as they stood outside of Kaede's hut and prepared to leave.

"Nonsense child. Ye are always welcome here and it was no trouble that ye and Inuyasha couldn't handle."

Sango merely smiled and waved goodbye to Kaede before Inuyasha scooped her into his arms and mumbled a "Bye you old hag" before jumping away. Sango laughed and hit him playfully on the shoulder.

"You're so mean to Lady Kaede. After all she's done to help us and you still call her an old hag."

He merely smiled and bounced her in his arms once to tell her that he wasn't going to stop doing so whether she liked it or not. Sango merely started to laugh and he smiled as the pleasant sound passed her lips for the first time in days. It had taken a few days for Kaede to heal her throat after Kouga's attack and during that time she'd barely been able to speak without pain do to her throat constricting from the swelling that occurred. He'd been so unbelievable worried that he hadn't slept for the first four days of the week she'd been recovering. Of course, as a half demon he'd been able to handle it but that didn't mean he didn't get tired. Then again, when Sango found out that he hadn't been sleeping she punched him so hard he fell unconscious and regained what sleep he'd lost anyway.

He was jerked out of his thoughts, however, when he suddenly felt a demonic aura and the scent of snake demon invaded his senses. He leapt backwards just as a long, scaly tale slammed into the ground he'd been standing on just seconds before. Sango's hold on his hoari top tightened drastically at the sudden movement and he growled angrily as, yet again, something was trying to attack them.

"I can sssssmell the woman'sssss blood from here half demon. Had her over and thissss mighty sssssnake might let you live," the giant snake hissed as he eyed Sango's still slightly injured form.

Sango merely sweat dropped at the snake demon's stupidity before looking up at Inuyasha to see him glaring angrily at the snake and growling slightly. She shook her head and smiled.

"Put me down Inuyasha. This shouldn't take long and I'd like to stretch my legs out a little bit," Sango said as she watched her love and the snake demon have a glaring match.

"Just stay out of the way Sango," Inuyasha said with a smirk as he set her down and jumped forward without drawing Tetsaiga; after all, what fun would it be to kill the stupid snake with one swing of his sword.

Sango merely smiled as she walked over to a tree near the path and started to stretch under the shade of its' leaves. She wasn't worried about Inuyasha at all and found the short time it would take him to beat the snake into unconsciousness gave her just enough time to go through a full stretching routine. Some of her muscles ached badly when she tried to stretch them so she avoided that particular kind of stretching and focused more on her other uninjured muscles. She'd just finished her routine when she heard a loud thump and the ground shook slightly. Turning, she saw that Inuyasha had indeed beaten the stupid creature into unconsciousness without even breaking a sweat and was now walking towards her with a big, satisfied grin.

"Have fun did you?" Sango teased lightly as he stopped in front of her.

"Ya I did actually. I really needed just to let loose on something," Inuyasha said as he moved forward to grab her and she jumped away from him, "Sango? What the heck?"

"Catch me if you can Inuyasha!" She yelled as she took off down the road at a dead run; it had been a long time since she'd been able to just run and, despite the pain in some of her muscles, she continued on down the road with Inuyasha chasing after her.

"What are you doing Sango? You know Kaede told you no kind of strenuous activity for two weeks!" Inuyasha yelled as he neared her and reached out to grab her kimono but she avoided his hand by jumping over the still form of the giant snake.

He immediately followed suit and growled lightly as she began to laugh and run faster.

"Oh come on Inuyasha. I'm fine except for a few sore muscles and Kaede's just used to working on village people. I'm a demon slayer and as such I can handle more than the normal village woman."

He sighed in defeat knowing that she was right and that even if he wanted to he couldn't talk her into doing something she didn't want to. Slowing his pace to match her own he jogged after her as he watched her giggle and run about fifty feet ahead of him. When she rounded a turn in the road that entered the forest again he quickly increased his pace so that he could see her again. He knew that the reason that the road turned sharply into the woods was because along the left side of it was a very steep cliff that had taken the lives of many unknowing travelers who decided that taking the road would take too long. Since Sango always traveled on Kirara he wasn't sure if she knew about the cliff and he hurried forward to warn her.

Rounding the corner himself he was able to see Sango still jogging happily down the road while giggling and spinning in circles. His heart leapt into his chest as she veered closer to the bushes on the left side of the road that concealed the dangerous cliffs behind them.

"Sango!" he yelled out frantically making her jerk her head towards him; causing her to loose her balance and go careening into the bushes, "NO! SANGO!"

He was at the place she fell nearly instantly and pushed his way through the bushes and nearly fell over the cliff himself trying to find her.

"SANGO!" he yelled as a sick feeling suddenly overwhelmed him at the thought of loosing his love due to a simple accident on the road.

"Inuyasha!"

The yell came from a good distance below and he snapped his head in that direction to see that Sango had once again pulled two hidden blades from her kimono and stabbed them into the cliff face to halt her fall.

"Hang on Sango!" he yelled down as he frantically tried to think of what to do.

"Hurry Inuyasha! My knives are coming out of the wall!" Sango called back with fear in her voice at the thought of falling the rest of the hundred feet into the raging river below.

He didn't even think as he jumped off the cliff while drawing Tetsaiga and transforming it into his larger form. As he fell he hear hell yell at him to stop but he didn't listen as he neared her and her knives completely came out of the wall and she began to fall. Grabbing a hold of her arm with his left hand he quickly dug Tetsaiga into the wall causing them to come to a jerking halt. Worriedly he looked down at Sango to see her face held a mixture of worry, fear, and anger.

"What in the seven hells Inuyasha? You could have killed yourself just now!" Sango yelled up to him even as his grip on her wrist slipped slightly.

"So what? If I hadn't jumped then you would have fallen to your death you stupid woman!"

She looked like she was about to retort with another angry comeback when his grip slipped again, this time more noticeably.

"Shit!" Inuyasha cursed as he tried to hang on to her wrist but couldn't due to the mist coming off of the water below them soaking both of their bodies.

Sango looked down at the water below her that was, by now, only a twenty-five foot fall. She knew that that kind of fall wouldn't kill her, hell she'd jumped into water from a higher point than that, but the rapids below her did not bode well for her slightly exhausted form. She cursed herself for stupidly wanting to run and getting herself and Inuyasha into such a mess.

"Inuyasha," she said as she looked back up to his worried face, "I'm sorry I got us into this."

"It's not your fault Sango. I should've told you about the cliff before we got this far," he said as his golden eyes flashed between her and the rapids below.

It sounded like he was about to say something else but suddenly her wet wrist slipped out of his grasp and she went careening into the water below with a slight yell.

"Sango!" he yelled as he ripped Tetsaiga out of the wall and sheathed it before plunging into the water after her.

Upon hitting the water he immediately tried to swim to the surface and try to find her but the fast current kept whipping him in different directions and it took him a few moments before he could reach the surface. When he did he immediately began calling out for Sango but was only able to keep himself above water for a few moments before the current pushed him back under.

Forcing himself to keep his head above water for more than a moment he was able to catch a glimpse of Sango's white, pink, and green kimono before she too was swept under. This time he allowed the current to pull him under and he used it to propel himself towards the direction he'd seen her. After a few moments of swimming forward along with the current he saw her small form struggling against the water trying to reach the surface. His demon blood allowed him to hold his breath for longer than her and survive on less oxygen for a longer period of time but he knew that in her weakened state she wouldn't be able to last much longer like this.

Pushing his body forward he finally reached her and wrapped his red clothed arm around her waist before swimming as quickly as he could toward the surface. Breaking it in only a matter of moments he tried valiantly to hold them both above water but could only do so for a few seconds before they both were swept under again. His fearful golden eyes met her exhausted brown and he willed her to keep strong through them. She seemed to understand his unsaid message as she nodded before her eyes suddenly widened and she pointed behind him. Turning his head quickly he saw a large rock in the middle of the river and knew that there was no way he could move them out of the way before the current threw them into it. So, instead, he pulled Sango's shaking form closer to him and made sure that his back was facing the rock.

Seeming to know what he was doing Sango struggled but was unable to escape his tight grip before his back slammed violently into the rock. What little air he had left in his lungs was knocked out of him and his grip on Sango slackened as his consciousness faded slightly. Sango let out a strangled sob from between clenched teeth as she desperately grabbed on to the slightly sloping rock and clung to it with both hands, wrapping both of her legs securely around Inuyasha's barely conscious form so ensure that he wasn't carried away from her. Despite her aching muscles and exhausted form she gathered her remaining strength and energy and hauled herself and Inuyasha up on to the top of the rock that was jutting out of the river. Once she was sure that they were both safely on the rock she let her body collapse as she gasped for breath.

After only allowing herself a second to gasp in a breath or two she worriedly looked to Inuyasha who was still breathing but seemed to no longer be conscious. She worriedly watched as some blood seeped from beneath him from the wound on his back he had gotten when they'd hit the rock. Carefully, she pulled him up to her chest and removed the top of his robe so she could look at the injury. She winced when she saw a rather large gash across the center of his back that was slowly oozing blood. Wasting no time she quickly began to rip strips off of the bottom of her kimono to use as temporary bandages. She knew that his half demon blood would heal him rather quickly but she still needed to stop the blood flow.

Somewhere in the river she'd lost her green obi and now she'd ripped so much off the bottom of her kimono that it was almost no longer decent to wear, something Kagome would have donned without hesitation, but not something Sango wanted to wear. She didn't care that she'd ruined her only kimono, she had her slayer's suit after all, but she didn't currently have her suit on and she was uncomfortable with the length her kimono now was. Of course, she was more worried about how she was going to get them out of the middle of a raging river if Inuyasha didn't wake soon. She knew that staying there through the night was not an option; despite the heat of the day, nights in the forest proved rather cold and with both of them soaking wet hypothermia could set in rather quickly.

Her brown eyes scanned the cliff on both sides of the river and was grateful to see that the tops of the cliffs were no longer a hundred and fifty feet above them but would still be rather difficult to get to with Inuyasha being unconscious, in fact she was fairly sure she wouldn't be able to make it halfway up the cliff face before her muscles gave out on her and she fell into the water yet again.

"Inuyasha…Inuyasha please wake up!" Sango cried as she gently shook his still fully unconscious form.

His ears seemed to twitch as if acknowledging her call and she heard a low groan before two golden eyes slowly opened and focused and her worried face.

"S-Sango? What happened?" he asked as he sat up slowly and looked around.

"We hit a rock remember? You took the force of it and when you fell unconscious I grabbed a hold and pulled us up," She said as she held onto his arm securely in case he got dizzy and fell.

"Damn. This is some kind of luck, huh Sango?"

She merely smiled at his attempt to lighten the situation before a large wave of water sprayed over them and reminded them of exactly how bad the situation really was.

"Are you ok Inuyasha?" Sango asked as he stood, wincing slightly, and looked around.

"I'm fine Sango. This little scratch is nothing," he said as caught the worried look she sent him at the wince, "I should be able to jump us out of here now that the tops of the cliffs aren't so high."

"Are you sure you can make it with both of us even though you're injured? Why don't you just jump out yourself, I'll be ok her for a while, and you can g—" She was cut off by Inuyasha's lips crashing down on her own.

After a moment he pulled away and she could see that he was clearly angry at her suggestion.

"Yes I'm sure I can make it Sango. You really think I'd leave you here in the middle of this river so close to dark?" he growled slightly.

She stood silent for a moment before smiling and shaking her head.

"Good cuz I wouldn't! Now come here and let's get out of here," he said, his tone more annoyed now than angry.

She got closer to him and allowed him to gather her into his arms. She clung tightly to his hoari top, which she'd replaced after bandaging his wound, and waited for him to jump. After a moment of just standing there she looked up to see Inuyasha's eyes wide and staring at her.

"What Inuyasha? What's wrong?"

"W-What did you do to your kimono Sango?" he asked as his eyes fell to her legs that he was strongly holding in one arm and his face redened slightly.

"I-I ripped it and used it as bandages," she said with a blush while avoiding his eyes, "I'm sorry if my indecency bothers you Inuyasha."

With her eyes cast down at her hands she was unable to see how his eyes widened at her last statement. Did she really think that he would think of her as indecent because she ripped her kimono to where it was slightly short to use it as bandages for _his_ wound? He growled, causing her attention to come back to him and for her eyes to fly up to his face.

"Inu—" her next question was cut short as he gently met her lips with his.

When, after a few moments they pulled apart, Inuyasha looked at her with an unusually stern look in his eyes.

"I would never think of you as indecent Sango. You ripped apart your only kimono for me. How do you expect me to think anything less of you?" he said as he watched her eyes water slightly, "I love you Sango."

At that she smiled before burying her face in his fire rat robe to hide the small amount of tears that she couldn't stop from falling. Mumbling something that sounded like "I love you too" Inuyasha merely smiled before tightening his grip on her and leaping across the water towards the top of the cliff.

He was able to make it but only just as he hit the top edge of the cliff and they both went skidding across the ground, separating from each other, before coming to a halt a few feet from the edge.

"Inuyasha!" "Sango!" They yelled simultaneously, "Are you alright?"

Both of them looked towards each other from their position on the ground a few feet apart. Each of them was completely caked in dirt from being wet and rolling across the dusty ground. Sango seemed to have the worst of it, however, as she stood and self-consciously pulled at the bottom edge of her kimono that came up to about mid thigh. Both her legs were covered in mud and dirt and it appeared that somehow a few twigs had gotten themselves caught in her sopping wet brown tresses.

Inuyasha smiled at the sight of her mussed hair and mud covered form as he also stood and made his way towards her to help her pick some of the twigs out of her hair. After he'd gently removed them he looked into her tired eyes and hugged her gently to his chest for a moment before releasing her.

"Come on Sango. There's a hot spring not too far from here where you can get cleaned up and we can make camp for the night. I'll get a fire going while your bathing. Sound good?"

Sango smiled gratefully and nodded her head, allowing Inuyasha to scoop her into his arms so they could get there faster. There was nothing she wanted more right now than a nice, long dip in the hot springs without having to worry about some pervert peeping at her. She trusted Inuyasha and knew he'd never do something like that to her even if they were going to be mated soon.

They quickly arrived at the hot springs where Inuyasha set her down and told her that he'd be just a minute away getting a fire started if she needed anything or if anything tried to attack her. She just smiled and waited a moment after he left to strip herself of her rather short and dirt covered kimono and eased her body into the water.

'_Ah this sure hits the spot. Exactly what I've been needing after all of the things that happened recently.'_ She thought as she allowed the hot water to soothe away her aches and pains, _'Too bad Inuyasha couldn't join me.'_

She froze at her last thought and blushed deeply at the implications of such thinking. But before she started to scold herself a little voice in her head reminded her that they were to be mates soon and such thinking was nothing to be ashamed of. Thus she relaxed again into the water and allowed her thoughts to run over her relationship with Inuyasha and what the future would hold for them.

_'I love him so much and I know that he loves me. Finally I'll have someone who truly cares about me in my life again.'_

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**a/n: That it. It took me forever to write this. Ok, so not forever only two or three hours but it is currently 4am and I am tired...-.-... Oh, that reminds me. I apologize if it's to actiony, with all this action happening conscutively one thing right after another, but I really hate to read long drawn out boring stories with a bunch of stupid filler chappies with no action so I always like to have a little action in each of my chappies. ^-^ ...But anyways, that's it for now and yall know what to do!**

**READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	12. AN Rewrite Begun! New Story Posted!

A/N: Guess what guys? I'm rewriting Mending a Slayer's Broken Heart! I have the first chapter of my new story posted already and you can find it on my page. I tried to post the link in this a/n but it wouldn't work so you can go to my page and it should be down in my stories listed as 1.

It's called Mending the Broken and will go along the same basic story line only I have flushed out the characters and the plot a lot more to make it a better and more enjoyable read. I know its been a really long time but if there's anyone out there still interested in reading it I've got it up. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks for the support all this time!

Texascowgirl-13


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